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    what if the Bast India Company ; , appealing to the Legislature and the nation against a plan for nominating an obsolete Whig peer aa Minister for India , and adding a large army to the jurisdiction of the Horse Guards , should array in its favour the public out of doors , and the independent sections ,

    including the Conservatives , in Parliament ? If the Reform for India is to be a bargain between Lord PAiiMEBSTOS" and the Court , the influence of the Crown will be increased , the political power of the Minister extended , the honesty of the Legislature still more completely worn away , and the dangers of our Indian Empire multiplied .

    The country is prepared for a plan which would create a new Indian department , and would not be astonished—only insulted- — were Lord Clanricabde nominated to be its head , with a fine sweep of civil patronage at his disposal . It anticipates also a Council for Indian affairs , merely consultative , the members of which , the Daily News says , would probably be selected , in the first instance , from the present Court of Directors , and remain more uninfluential than junior Lords of

    the Treasury . But the military plot , if it be such as is reported , staggers credulity itself . "We are insisting upon Parliamentary control over India , and is Lord Palmeeston to suggest the Horse Guards ? That department is the most secret , arbitrary , and irresponsible in the State ; with another golden swarm of commissions in its mouth , we may conceive what influence it might exert upon the plastic portion of the Parliamentary community . ¥ e do trust that the independent Liberals will meet the Government , when the

    session reopens , with a determination to oppose , to the last formality , any measure that would arm with new prerogatives and facilities of corruption the Crown as well as the Cabinet of the day . - It is necessary to speak plainly . "We are in one reign now ; when we may be in another , or what purgatory we may undergo , is a question of the future . At all events , it would be indiscreet to pour millions of hush-money into the coffers of a Commander-m-Chief , to be dispersed at the pleasure of himself , his patrons , and his colleagues .

    As to the non-military patronage of India , a large proportion of it is already in the hands of the Cabinet . Nevertheless , the East India Company , partly through unrecognized channels , has exercised functions of check ; its power of veto has at times been beneficially exerted . The competitive system would at least not be a drag upon the wheels of jobbery . Its efficacy is sometimes doubted ; but , as is well known to many persons , appointments

    on public grounds have been made at home under the new system , which would never have taken p lace under the old . But the main question , at present , is that of military government . How will a native army under local authorities , and a European army under authorities in England , Avork together ? How is Parliament to perform its duties with the most important department of the Indian service beyond ita control ? And how is the British Indian Empire to be consolidated and secured it" rank majorities are to bo purchased secured it" rank majorities are to bo purchased

    by Indian patronage , and if tho government of neglect is to bo succeeded by the government of corruption ? Against nny such scheme we hope public opinion will reso-—~ lutely-n > ake-wtti \~^ t-may , boJ ; Uat-iiatluj ! T | gJ , positively known of the Ministerial plans , It is probable , indeed , that the idea of Lord CiiANiucAiiDis ' B appointment to the Principal Indian Secretaryship will be reconsidered ; but the dead silonco of the Government is suspicious , and we are at lonat justified in anticipating some grand scheme of deception and jobbery .

    THE REGIS SLAVE TRADE AND ITS SUBSTITUTES . The abolition of slavery is one of the gravest —but by no means the gravest—problems of social science . England , after holding to the tyrannous right of keeping slaves , not only in her colonies but in the mother country , until a much later date than is generally supposed , has long set her heart upon the final eradication of the obnoxious practice . In this pious labour she has spent millions upon millions of money , and God only knows how many thousands upon thousands of British

    lives . At the present moment , she stands practically almost alone in her endeavour to suppress the trade in human kind . Without for a single moment undervaluing the nation ' s labours in this cause , we are bound to say that , so far , they have been ineffectual , inasmuch as they have only succeeded in placing obstacles in the way of the slavetrader—obstacles which he may and does constantly find means' to overcome—but have not in the smallest degree helped to remove the causes which call the detestable traffic

    into requisition . Nothing can put a stop to slave-trading while there is an unsatisfied demand in tropical America for efficient labour , which the negro alone can supply . It is one of the first and soundest principles of commerce that demand creates supply ; and whether the demand be for nails or for negroes , while men seek the best markets to trade in , there will inevitably be found traders to supply the commodities wanted . This is the stumblingblock to all treaties upon the subject . Let us take a very late example .

    The French colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique have long been suffering from the want of efficient labourers . The Emperor Napoleon , compelled to observe the treaties by which France stands bound to this country , and to respect the endeavours making for the suppression of the slave-trade , adopted the notable idea of importing into the said colonies ' free emigrants' from the coast of Africa . The scheme owed its origin to a M . Bj&gis , a merchant of Marseilles . When it was first talked of here it was discussed rather as a doubtful experiment than

    as a movement which was to endanger the dearly-bought successes of nearly half a century of sustained endeavour on the part of this country to implant the healthy seeds of civilization in Africa . As everybody anticipated , M , K , £ gis found no ' free' natives to emigrate ; but he had created a demand , and the supply was very soon forthcoming . A letter , dated September 3 , 1857 , from Mr . Campbeli ., British Consul at Lagos , gave us a startling insight into the state of affairs produced by the French demand . Mr . Campbell said : —

    " Hia Imporial Majesty of France having taken to purchase slaves in this quarter , a whole host of unwashed , unbearded faced Spaniards , Portuguese , and Americans have followed hia example ; and if hia Imperial Majesty persiata in continuing to purchase slaves at Whydali , I fear wo must say good-by to cotton from this part of Africa . Already the Abeokutans have gone to hunt for slaves . Tho Ibaddons , a more numerous and warlike people than tho Abookutans , are preparing to do tho Hume in tho Jabod country , near to Lagos . "

    Tho prospect of a profitable traffic being opened to the chiefs , the labours of tho missionary and of the industrial instructor were P ^ Gj ^ h j ^ ownjUija moment J > y the wild acquisitive u ^ slt ^ eiTof ^ ho natives ; 3 £ an ^ lrulTtiiiTg for tho purpoBo of supplying the marketdemand for men , was twenty times more attractive to savage instincts than tho slow , dull labours of civilization , with its constant restraints and intangible spiritual rewards . The injury tlono at Why dab . by M . Ki : ais ' s experiment iippcars to be almost irroparable .

    That he was himself deceived , is hardly to be supposed ; it is generally believed that his representations—whether sincere or nottotally misled the Emperor . It is now supposed that the Emperor has determined- to abandon the scheme , and so graver consequences will be averted ; for possibly there is at present no subject upon which Lord PAXMEBSTOisr would have taken a more determined attitude , even at the riBk of the French alliance .

    But the French want of negro labourers in the "West Indies differs in no respect from our own want . Our rich possessions there are absolutely pining for the want of such labour as the African could give , and possibly the African only . At all events , the attempts made to supply the fatal deficiency by the introduction of Coolies from India have been almost abortive . And it may well have been so ; for the Coolie is about as well adapted to furnish the labour required in the West Indian Islands as the camel would be to

    make up for a deficiency of draught-horses m this eold , wet country . A short time ago a suggestion was published , and received wi ± lx much favour , that a number of Sepoy convicts should be transported to the "West Indies . We were inclined to treat the scheme seriously , but it must be confessed that the objections raised by more than one correspondent are of so alarming a nature , that we are now compelled to regard the idea in a different light . As first struck out , it seemed reasonable : but what answer can be given

    to the following argument of a valued correspondent?— - "How the necessities of these colonies are to , be relieved has long been an anxious question , and an answer has lately been given—such an answer as has turned toy northern blood cold ; it is—transport thither the condemned Sepoys ! And scarcely has this suggestion—full of horror to my mind—been made , than we ] hear of British Guiana expressing itself as ready , not

    only to receive this loathsome addition to its population , but to pay its share of the cost of transportation . Nor does it appear that the Emperor of the French looks upon the scheme as being repulsive or unfeasible ; and it is understood that his consent to finally abandon the 'free' emigration plan of M . B , £ gis has been aided by the expectation of being permitted to supply the labour-wants of his West Indian colonies from China and

    India . " Now , it is not so many years back that whispered stories of atrocities committed by the convict population of Vau Biemen ' s Land and New South Wales upon the free populations of those countries reached this country . The crimes said to have been committed were so revolting , so devilish , that generally they were discredited , not only in England , but in the colonies where they were said to have taken place . Sir William Moleswobth , however , was not incredulous , and through his exertions a committee of inquiry was granted by the House of Commons . Then it was discovered that the most frightful

    re-~ ports that had been current were less frightful than the simple facts upon which they had been founded . At a later date , the very talk of restoring transportation to New South Wales , and of making Moreton Bay a penal settlement , led to unmistakable threats of resistance , and the scheme was abandoned . But , at the worst , what could the settlers of ' -Anistralin ~ lTave 4 md-todread-fro » x , thq . qi : iroiual refuse of the mother country , compared with tho horrible dangers to which tho planters oi the West India Islands would be helplessly exposed by the influx of a horde of villains , carrying with thorn evory vice to which the imagination can attaoh the idea of possibility X What they have already done under tho in-

    Untitled Article

    No . 407 , JAJffTTABy 9 , 1858 . j THE I / JS A DEK . 85

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 9, 1858, page 35, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2225/page/11/