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    terfere with am indefinite issue limited only by the discretion of the Directors 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 Fiee-trade and Protection—of liberty and Despotism—of Light and Darkness ; they may deceive themselves and each other , but 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 .

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    THE CAMPAIGN IN OTJDE . Iff 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 he the means of engendering such false confidence as has but too-often proved the bane of military enterprise under 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 have referred are identical with those which the JPriend of Indict ( 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 commemoi'ated in General Orders and

    celebratedwith 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 ib is ) a correct representation of the state of feeling in India , we cannot much wonder tkat 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 mews that Lucknow had been relieved ; the mutineers were evacuating the open country , and dispersing in all directions before the pursuit of our victorious troops ; the rebellion , as a concerted scheme , was virtually suppressed . All this was the natural result 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 atMeerut converted his Majesty into a principal performer , and constituted him chief of the movement . The unhesitating selection of I > ellii as a point of rendezvous by the Meerut rebels , evidences no more than the existence of what are called ( in Oartnon-row and Leadenhall-stroet ) ' previous communications . ' After all , there wore not above fourteen thousand mutineers—if so manywithin tho walls of Delhi , at the period of the final assault ; and the greater portion effected an orderly retreat .

    What then is the actual state of affairs at present ? Why , something at all events rery different from the realization of alL that

    public opinion seemed to have decided on taking for gospel . Lucknow hsa not been relieved , exeepfc in imagination . So far is the garrison from , having been ' relieved , ' in the military sense , that its pbsition is ^ on the contrary—if we may credit official accounts , — not much better tha-n before . G-enerals O < uteam andHA . TTEi . ocK appear to have been reduced to such an urgent necessity of communicating with the Alhimbagh force , that

    they expended nearly five hundred men in an unhappily ineffectual attempt to opea the road , one or both of the commanders being wounded on the occasion . € reneral Outram had officially stated his inability to hold out in his present position until the 10 th Novembei % at the latest . Tet Sir Colin- CaiucpbelIi ( until whose arrival at the scene of action , no further movements were to be attempted ) did not leave Oawnpore until the morning of tlie 9 tli JNTovember . 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 G-r . eathed 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 N . Wilsok , is an incident based solely oh the fact of that officer having commanded a - force which was vainly sent in quest of them . Brigadier

    GrREA-THED ' , having most unaccountably diverged from the main road towards Cawnpore and Iiucknow , where his presence was urgently needed , was surprised in his owu camp at Agra , and saved only by active aid from the garrison , which he Lad apparently come to assist . "We did not much wonder to hear of this commander ' s

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

    of Rohilkutid 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 Native Infantry . How lamentably such a fact speaks for the information possessed by our officials , civil or military !

    We observe tliat an Indian journal received by tlxo last Mail heads it ' s Summary of Events as the ' The Crisis ; ' and we incline to think our contemporary i 3 right in the view which such a heading implies . The fall of Delhi was a . most desirable event : bub , 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 the nicely-balanced scale on which depends tho fate of Lucknow . "Wo shall expect the arrival of the next telegrams in earnest anticipation of good tidings . But in the meantime , tlie task of translating doubtful reports or indifferent ; facts into savoury bulletins and texts of hopeful promiso is a task we steadily eschew . Such a perverse display of ingenuity would be discreditable to ouraelvea , and insulting to tlio better judgment of our readers .

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    PUBLIC OPINION AND PARLIAMENTAJaY EEFOBM . We believe that , before Parliament reassembles , an important Union of Beformeorfc will have been established . At length , thei » e 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 journal *^ that the course w « took in announcing the G-uildhall Coffee House consultation wfi »

    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 tlie proposal to initiate a new seb 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 and powerful movement , which , within a few months , may revive in the minds of old Reformers reminiscences of 18 & 2 . 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 inaccuratel y said , that no deep interest in the question , is exhibited . Wait awh ile . A hundred earnest men , combining , will set in motion a hundred town »; already Sheffield , Birmingham , Oldham , a&d other large localities , have demonstrated their

    strong political feelings ; the metropolis is about to act ; and when , the leaders of . the movement appear in a compact and influential phalanx , it will be seen whether the indifference of the country is such , as it is repae * sented . The best possiblesign is that the working classes , releasing themselves from , the dictation of th eir 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 opim ' of their most sincere advocates that to ride what are called

    principles to death , would be the death of the Liberal party , as it has 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 tnau or a clique to rank among the impossibles ; in

    politics it is a bailooa that may bo inflated and set afloat—carrying four or live persons —but is of no value as a means of practieal locomotion . A . doctrinaire in power must either abandon the severity of his faith , or tie outvoted by the pupils of expediency . Lord PatjBOjhston is no doctrinaire , and that is hits strength ; but lie has no political princi p le , and that is his weakness . The main objexjt 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 . This , we think , has been offered in

    the programme lately published . It readjusts tho electoral system , by approximating representation to population ; it abolishes the property qualification ~— and thus saves the Legislature from hypocrisies bo infamous as tho prosecution of Mr . Stepkbn Atjchmuty Gxovkr ; and it substitutes the Ballot for open voting . A middle and working class union would secure these objeetii , autl replace tho hereditary and aristocratic by tho competitive imd tho representative . Parliamentary Reform is another name for Ministerial liesponsibility . An iinreformed

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    No-. 404 , Deo-bmbbr 19 , 1857 . ]! THE LE 1 DEK l&U

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 1211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2222/page/11/