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No. 386, *™™* IS-1857.1 >HE XEADER. 781
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NOTICES TO eOBBESPONDENTS. A n —We rettr...
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During the Session of Parliament it is o...
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v * v ^ y ^ SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1857.
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~ ~ ^ ~ ^tlhitr ^Lfrnir^ ^**u*Mr ^uuim. •-:—
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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INDIA: PROGRESS OF THE REVOLT. Delhi had...
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THE EXPIRING SESSION. The new Parliament...
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MURDElt WON'T OUT. The murder of Mr. Lit...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
No. 386, *™™* Is-1857.1 >He Xeader. 781
No . 386 , *™™* IS-1857 . 1 > HE XEADER . 781
Notices To Eobbespondents. A N —We Rettr...
NOTICES TO eOBBESPONDENTS . A n —We rettret that we cannot infringe our rule , which insistlruwratne ' name and address of a cprrrespondent beinTco & nicated to us in confidence . A letter signed ^ thiniMate and dated fro m a cfiib is not m compliance with thte invariable requirement . If our correroondent would do us the favour to read our repeated articles on the subject of his communication a little more closely , he would perhaps be willing to perceive that his objections P W . % ^^^^ A S ^ h uose discussions of the nature apparently so precious to our correspondent at Sydenham . .
During The Session Of Parliament It Is O...
During the Session of Parliament it is often impossible to find room for correspondence , even the briefest . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently ^ romi reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily forpublication . but as a guarantee of his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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rJktaktt .
V * V ^ Y ^ Saturday, August 15, 1857.
v * v ^ y ^ SATURDAY , AUGUST 15 , 1857 .
~ ~ ^ ~ ^Tlhitr ^Lfrnir^ ^**U*Mr ^Uuim. •-:—
pnhltt Mnw . —*—
There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because therei * nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep " tHiiig . <* fiYPrlwhoa all t . v > o woria is >_ J » y ^ nevery law of its creation in eternal progress . —De . Aehoid »
India: Progress Of The Revolt. Delhi Had...
INDIA : PROGRESS OF THE REVOLT . Delhi had not fallen up to the 27 th June . Such , in brief , is the substantial intelligence which we gather from the Overland Mail just arrived . But even this curt announcement has a painful significance . Our readers will doubtless bear in mind tbat the preceding bulletin ran thus : — " Delhi still held out on the 17 th June . " Thus it appears that the ordinary interval of at least a fortnight , which our last advices clearly indicate , has furnished
only ten days' later news from the British camp before the beleaguered city . In other words , we have a fatal assurance that the usual means of communication are becoming more and more impaired by the spread of disorder . For , at such a juncture , the arm of civil authority is of necessity more or less paralyzed , and a moral rather than a physical check was earnestly looked for , as the happiest means of repressing extreme licence . The capture of Delhi would have all the
moral effect desired ; . and its continued occupation by the mutineers cannot but have an effect proportionally sinister . Under such circumstances , it is impossible to suppose that any dilatory proceedings can have been authoritatively sanctioned . The rainy season , moreover , commences in the North-West Provinces about the middle of June , rendering active military operations almost impossible j so that even nature supplied arguments against delay . We on a former occasion expressed -our unwillingness to enter on a minute criticism
of Sir H . Babnabd ' s military conduct ; we at the same time pointed out the injustice of making that officer responsible for neglects and shortcomings apparent in a force of which he was summoned to take command at a moment ' s notice . But , after making every reasonable allowance , we cannot but feel much surprise at the passive line of proceeding which the General seema advisedly to adojpt . Rejecting all the fabulous nonsense which has obtained too extensive currency , * * Amongst other wild communications , wo have o « en in Pnnt » letter In which tho writor ( professedly on officer ) epoaka of a meditated night assault , which was iruatrated because the Brigadier commanding the outlying pickets hftd been kept unacquainted with the intended movement .
and which , if correctly reported , would stamp Sir H . Babnabd and his Staff as unacquainted with the first principles of soldiership , we cannot but think that the tactics ^ hitherto pursued are ultra-Fabian . Delhi , at all events , is not a Sebasfcopol . No inner mystery , no inexhaustible resources , lurk behind that ' garden wall , * which—however impregnable to hordes of Mahratta cavalry , unsupported by heavy ordnance—has no pretensions to resist the appliances of modern warfare . The number of the mutineers within .
the city is wholly inadequate to garrison the wide circuit of ita defences ; and General Babnaed ' s force is as clearly inadequate to the undertaking of a formal siege . There is , at the same time , little , if any , doubt that the numerical superiority is on the side of the Government force . Regarding the strength of the rebels , we have noticed that the most gross exaggerations have been put forth ; whereas ,, it is an ascertained fact that their muster-roll has not at any time exceeded eight thousand men ( Sepoys ) , if , indeed , it ever reached that amount . On the other hand , a formal siege can never have been contemplated : an army of seventy thousand than suffice for such
strong would not more an object . The place , whether sooner or later , must be carried by a coup de main . What excuse , then , can be assigned for a delay which is nnt only- linecaoonable but ruinous in its moral consequences , we cannot undertake to say . Ghuznee was a harder nut to crack , and the exigency scarcely greater . It is most devoutly to be wished that the next mail may bring us tidings of more decisive import . We cannot but mistrust vague accounts of * tremendous repulses' and ' awful slaughters . ' Had the rebels reallv suffered to the extent which such p hrases imply , in six or seven successive actions , there should have been none of them surviving by this
time . In the meanwhile the progress of disaffection has received no check . Scarcely half a dozen regiments of th e Bengal army have stood aloof from the revolt . The Bombay Sepoys remained firm . But remembering that about half the Bombay army is composed of the same materiel as that of Bengal , we cannot but wish that a favourable turn of events should , as speedily as possible , operate to resolve all doubts and difficulties .
Apart from matters connected with the revolt , the most curious item of Indian intelligence is that which exhibits the first fruits of Lord Canning ' s Press Qag Act . The ever decorous friend of India , a staunch advocate of Government , has been the first to receive a formal ' warning' from the authorities . The offensive matter was contained in an article entitled " The Centenary of Plassy . "
The Expiring Session. The New Parliament...
THE EXPIRING SESSION . The new Parliament has made its trial trip , and the Government puts into the recess in rather a leaky condition . At first the engines worked smoothly , the wind blew fair , and Mr . Haytbb , who carries the grease-pot , went to his work evening after evening with smiling serenity . By-and-by , the House got among the estimates , and here navigation was not bo easy . Bulky millions , of course , were voted without much consideration , but the
independent members on both sides have evinced a disposition to criticise tho minor items . Moreover , the Cabinet stood upon ground this session which will not support it the next ; it can scarcel y hope to draw the state salaries of 1858 without ; a policy . At first Lord PAiiMBBSTOisr was safe . Jbecause the new Parliament was not in working order ; next , the majority of four hundred took a start , and followed its leader like a riding-school cantering over the Sussex downs . Then
certain apparent tendencies to this essential union . Mr . Bright is once more in Parliament , and he carries with him the suffrages of the nation . A man so vigorous and experienced must materially assist in the conduct of an opposition to any laissezfaire or deceptive policy ; besides , there are the new members ; and these , far from dumb during their first session , will be far from insignificant during their second . Mr . Atbtok , of the Tower Hamlets , has taken up a conspicuous position ; Mr . White , of Portsmouth , is a man to whom the Liberal party looks with , some degree of anticipation ; Mr .
Coningcame the Indian revolt , and Government asked for nothing but power , and the House of Commons could not give less than support . But before the close of the recess , the country will expect that something decisive shall have been done in Bengal , and that the Ministry shall have determined upon large political plans applicable to domestic as well as to Eastern affairs . Otherwise , it will meet a House of Commons not at all disposed to be driven like a team of superannuated cattle . The independent Liberals would be powerful , if united : and we have already indicated
ham , of Brighton , has struck one or two hard blows at ' the system ; ' Mr . Cox , of Finsbury , has been a judicious colleague of Mr . Dtjnoombe—no longer , unhappily , the Dtocombe of former days , since he has sacrificed his health no less than his time to the service of the Liberal cause . Of Mr . Locke , the new member for Southwark , a satisfactory report may be made ; but other gentlemen there , are whose promises were sweet upon the hustings who may be useful in the sense that vaults and foundations are useful in the construction of a house , but
who have not shown above ground , and are certainly neither decorative nor terrible . The net results of the Session have been singularly insignificant . Among the best is the new Divorce Bill . The vote on Civil Service Superannuation has been satisfactory to a large class of deserving gentlemen , although it was opposed by some Liberals on the ground that it was a little piece of legislative jobbery , perpetrated in the interest of such officials as Sir Chasms Tkeve : lya : n-.
who is understood to put into his purse , in consequence of the innovation , a clear annual sum of two hundred and fifty pounds sterling . But why begrudge Sir Chaki-es this little golden whittling when the same resolution that brought an affable beam upon his purist countenance sent a smile through Somerset House ? But the great collapse of the session has been Lord John RusseMi , who has a faculty for collapsing . Any man , with , three fingers aud a smattering of grammar , could have made a better mess of it than lie did with his Oaths Bill and his committee . Did he mean , however , to do more than fail P At
all events we know who gains by the trickery Lord John Russell has a popular topic ready for next session which he has ingeniously taken out of Lord Palmbbston ' s hands ; Lord Palmebston has hung a stone round the neck of the Earl of Derby , and we are not quite sure that the ^ Tories would regret to see the question altogether sunk in a royal assent . Of one thing only we are sure—that Lord P ^ MEBsroH ' s pailicular fiiends consider us dupes if we expect that next February he will come down with a Eeform Bill .
Murdelt Won't Out. The Murder Of Mr. Lit...
MURDElt WON'T OUT . The murder of Mr . Little is still a mystery . A poor inoffensive gentleman is brutally beaten to death by some ruffian in a railway station , while trains were coming m and going out , while housekeepers were gomg their rounds to see that everything was safe ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 15, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15081857/page/13/
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