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    aaries-of the Bengal native army are , m great part , cancelled ; but not a word has been written * by inspired apologists , concerning the neW European army for India . That will be the instrument in the hands of the Minister , or of his Royal Highness . The old system gave us Olive , Coote , Ochtjbblony , Nott , and ' the hundred officers who have sprung into glory since the rebellion exploded

    in the North-West ; will the new system give us Cabdigans , Lucans , Aireys ? "Will it be necessary for high commands to be accompanied by ' weight '—that is to say , hereditary rank ? Will merit be advanced as grudgingly as heroism and genius have been rewarded ? If so , then Mr . Ceawshat has reason to dread the proposed change , for the sake of India , for the sake of Great Britain .

    We have no secrets to disclose concerning the plans of the Cabinet . It is dangerous to prophesy , and useless to guess . But one thing is certain . Tbe principle of the new measure will be one that will enable the grand offices of honour and emolument connected with the civil and military government of India to be held by the political favourites of the Minister , whether specially qualified or not , while the work will be done by subordinates—with respectable salaries , no doubt , but who ought to stand at the head of their

    departments . Por every Rowland Hill there will be a Duke of Abgyll ; for every Sir Geobse Glebe , a Mr . Vebiton Smith . Hitherto , in India , the Company has checked the Ministry even in its appointment of Governors-General ; while we do not find Sir John L / awbence in the Punjab acting as clerk to any Mr . Smith from Cannon-row . The Court of Directors has rendered immense services to the country by preventing political

    jobbery . No ' take care of Dowb' has been possible under their rule , unless Wellesley ' s instruction , " Give Abthub an opportunity of distinguishing himself , " may be so interpreted . Ijord Cannin g or any other peer might take out a family as numerous and voracious as that of the Phippses , but any corrupt patronage exercised by him to the sacrifice of reasonable claims , would bring an appeal to Leadenhall-street , and there lies the power of recal .

    The European dream of India is past . It is no longer popularly believed that all her habitations are palaces , that her coasts are of mosaic , or her cities built of solid gold . We have ceased to think of the argosies that brought home gold for the roofs of Seville , and rubies for the diadem of Spain . We have a vast cotton-and-grain-bearing country , which enriches us and exalts us as a nation , and the problem is how to regulate its affairs so that our Government may be a blessing to the people and an advantage to ourselves .

    To the people it has been a blessing . Their own military classes , in the midst of profound peace , have torn up the roots of society , and interrupted the prosperity of India ; but , previously to the rebellion , where was the armed ploughman who dared not go far a-field from his walled village ? Where was the walled and moated village itself , a symbol of despotism and anarchy P or the Zemindar who trembled when he heard the tramp of horses , or the Thug ? Where did a whole f i

    population fly rom ts houses to caves , mountains , and jungles , a disaster once so frequent that it was represented by ft special word in ^ the lnn * gUage ~ P' ™ -Not ^ in ^ the ~ British ^ "domi nions , territories formerly exposed to constant oppression and periodic ravage . If torture now exists in Madras , it was universal before the British supremacy was established . The Malirattas and Pindarreea were subdued but India was still exposed to Affghan , Sikh , Burman , and Nepnlese invasions . To the Company ia due the merit of closing thia

    long account of violence and devastation . If the sharka and alligators at Saugoc could feed only on human flesh , there must have been a > famine long ago in the Saugor waters . ITrom another point of view , the system of the East India Company is to be commended . There is not one sinecure or one patented office throughout its enormous establishment . And , as Mr . Mebedith observes , where else

    is there a conquered country in which the poorest subject may plead in an open court against the sovereign , and travel from border to border without a passport ? Other benefits have been conferred on the native populations by the rule of the East India Company , but it is unnecessary to recur to them . Without desiring to perpetuate the existing system free from modification or reform , we have consistently pointed to the monuments of "British administration in the East . !

    Fontakieb , a French writer , bitter to an extreme in his criticisms upon our Indian Government , declares that , under the East India Company , it is all but impossible for abuse to flourish long , for every member of the corporation is eager to signalize himself as a reformer , and ' the Government perpetually occupies itself with projects and experiments of amelioration . ' It is this middle-class integrity and independence that forms the best security for the consolidation and welfare of our dominions ia Asia . It is

    to this we owe a splendid school of statesmanship and war , a prodigious trade , and political aggrandizement , exciting the envy of all competing powers . Will , then , Parliament undertake to supervise every minute and subordinate detail of Indian policy ? Will * it jealously and honestly guard the constitution of the Anglo-Indian army ? Will it conscientiously debate questions , surrounded by Oriental technicalities , with which the Court of Directors are familiar p Will it not abandon India to the ascendant

    faction of the day ? Better retain the East India Company than arm the Crown with unlimited patronage , introduce the principles of Chelsea Hospital into our Indian army , and consign an empire won by middle-class genius to the keeping of those who would probably send some hundreds of unqualified favourites annually to gorge themselves upon Indian civil and military emoluments , to the great satisfaction of a Ministerial majority in

    Parliament . Lord Clattricabde , they said , was to have been Indian Minister . Assuming that he has no such expectations , he is , nevertheless , in the Cabinet , and can tell us what are the principles of Whig patronage . For example , had he been appointed aa successor to the East India Company , there would have been a fine opening for Mr . Davis , or any other gentleman familiar with the name of O'Neill . But if the peerage is to be conciliated , must India be the sacrifice ?

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    THE TWO AMERICAN DIJTICUJLTIES . In following the adventures of a hero of the General Walker type , one of course expects to find him subject to many romantic , and even unromantic , turns and vicissitudes of fate and fortune ; but we must confess that when , a fortnight ago , we posted up the buccaneer chief ' s accounts to the latest moment to which they had been rendered , we

    did'rr"not" ^ nnticipate ^ that- * the ^ balance--which then appeared in his favour would so soon require to be struck anew . Fortune aeemed to smile upon her adventurous son . He had run the gauntlet of New Orleans law courts and Federal Government cruisers , and there he stood on Nicaraguan ground , at the head of a band of one hundred and fifty rosolu to state-founders , styled by him , the ' . army of

    Nicaragua , ' himself claiming the titles of ' Commander-in-Chief' and ' President * of Hkte country : there he stood , as we said a forfenight back , * in spite of treaties , and neutrality laws , and Mr . Buchanan ' s message . ' That Wai / ebb , in fitting out his filibustering expeditions , was acting in a manner wholly illegal , is not for a moment to be denied—he himself would admit the fact ? :

    what he has done he has done at his own proper peril , and the Government of the United States had ample power to call him to account at any moment it had chosen , while he was upon United States ground . But tEe Federal Government suffered him . to escape , and even a warrant for his apprehension , after he had forfeited hi » bail at New Orleans , eould not have been served upon him at G-reytown without the consent and assistance of the Nicaraguan Government . That is , it could not have been done legally . In theory , the Nicaraguan Executive was the only power on the face of the earth that could directly claim satisfaction of Geneatal WALKEB .

    Now , in an unlucky hour , this little fact , which seems to stare in the face of everybody who -cares to see it , has been carelessly or wilfully overlooked by a Commodore of the United States navy , with results which will probably be as unpleasant to himself as they will be embarrassing to his Government . What has happened is this : — After his adroit evasion of the Saratoga

    and successful landing at Greytown , General Walkeb hoisted the Nicaraguan flag at his head-quarters at Punta Arenas , by the mouth of the San Juan river . That proceeding appears to have raised the ' dander' of the commander of the evaded Saratoga , who proceeded to make a demonstration wftfti his guns , and sent an officer to parley with the audacious General . But Waikeb

    carried things with a high hand , and warned the States captain that if his men approached ' camp' otherwise than with regular military question and answer , they would be fired upon—a proceeding which Captain Chatabd declined to provoke . The Nicaraguan Government offered no sign , of opposition ; and so things went on for some days , Walkeb making good his ground by seizing various military positions , a steamer or two , and so on . But on the 6 th of December , the United States steam-frigate

    Wabash , with Commodore Pauuding on board , cast anchor off Puuta Arenas , and on tUte same day arrived the British ships Leopard and Brunswick . These vessels were , a iew days later , joined by the Fulton , another United States steam-ship of war , It wa » a demonstration , but in no way , alarming to General Walkeb , protected as he was by the neutrality laws , which forbid the uninvited landing of an armed force upon the territoay of a friendly state . But we know that , wbe » e angels fear to tread mortals commonly rush in without hesitation . Commodore Pauue * - ding had not come to Nicaragua merely to note the direction of the wind from the

    flauudimga of General Wahkbe ' s flag . The 3 Mibuater , he knew , ought not to have been , allowed to hoist his flag at all ; and in apite r or disregard , of international laws and conventions , he determined to have it down . Bo he landed four hundred men from the Wabaeh , and summoned Walker to lay down hie-rarms-and-surrendec There JajMJj £ g £ ! L for discussion when the arguments axe ail an one aide . Walker hauled down bis mg , and , with his army , gave himself up—« n «» protest . Commodore Pauljunq released him on parole , on condition that he should proceed to New York and deliver himaett over to the custody of the United States Marsh *! j . a condition which Walker at once fulflUedv

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    K ^ ApS , lAmmss My , 1856 /] JH 1 JBAIEB , 59 _

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 16, 1858, page 59, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2226/page/11/