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No. 883. Jtti,y 18,1857] THE LEADER. 686...
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M>TICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Our Art-Gall...
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NO notice caii bo taken of anonymous cor...
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\ * ~ ^ j ——*¦—SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1857.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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THE BENGAL MUTINY. A fortnight ago we to...
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THE LIBERALS AND THE LORDS. The constitu...
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. 883. Jtti,Y 18,1857] The Leader. 686...
No . 883 . Jtti , y 18 , 1857 ] THE LEADER . 686 ,
M>Tices To Correspondents. "Our Art-Gall...
M > TICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . " Our Art-Galleries" is again unavoidably postponed by press of matter . . .,, . , " W P- ( Dublin ) . —The communication will appear next weeK . It has been found impossible to insert it sooner , on account of the pressure on bur columns .
No Notice Caii Bo Taken Of Anonymous Cor...
NO notice caii bo taken of anonymous correspondence WhateVeris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication . but as a guarantee of Ins good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . Communications should always be legibly written , and on one side of the paper only . If long , it increases the difficulty of finding space for thorn . ^
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\ * ~ ^ j ——*¦—SATURDAY , JULY 18 , 1857 .
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and . convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world lsby thevery lawoflts creation in eternal progress . —Ie . Aenoid . ? .
The Bengal Mutiny. A Fortnight Ago We To...
THE BENGAL MUTINY . A fortnight ago we took occasion to enter a protest against the "twasn't-so-bad-afterall' fashion of extenuating rebellion , brigandage , and murder . The shocking details since received from Delhi quite justify our remonstrance , showing , as they do , that the conduct of the revolted Sepoys was not only to the full as bad as originally stated , but even much worse than could have been reasonably imagined . Contrary to all anticontinued to be
cipations , the Imperial City held , at the date of our last advices , by the mutineers , who had then for four weeks exercised undisturbed control over all within the circuit of its walls . The necessity , whether real or fancied , for bringing up a siege train , is a chief reason assigned for the delay which has taken place . However that may "be—and however disgraceful the fact , that the capital of Upper India should for so long a period have been at the mercy of thieves and cut-throats—this partial success of the insurgents will perhaps turn out to have been
in no slight degree conducive to the eventual restoration of order , and the establishment of public security ou a more permanent basis . Not to be suspected of dealing in paradox , let us at once explain our views on this point . Our readers will scarcely fail to remember that , in speaking of the discpntents which lave since culminated in open revolt , we from the outset proclaimed our firm belief that the whole Bengal Army was iu a state of unliealthy excitement , and that dangerous consequences must at no distant date ensue . But such was not the view adopted hy the local Government in India . It did not
consist with the policy of Lord Canning ' s miserable advisers to avow truths that would blazon forth their own ignorance and incapacity . The disease must be represented as merely loqal ; the old hum-drum nostrnms are . applied ; a favourable crisis superveneB ; and the authorities in England are entreated- —whatever base roporfcs may reach their oars—to admit no doubts anent the loyalt \ r , good faith , and
devotion of their remarkably obedient army . This is , in brief , exactly what hns been clone upon the present occasion , and what has teen doing , in like emergencies , for many jears past . The Court of Directors , ever threading tho bill of costs necessarily attendant upon vigorous measures of improvement , are unhappily too notorious for the facility with which they are content to bo imposed on by couie ^ r-iie-rose sketohog from the realms of their ' paternal despotism . ' Such mx expensive undertaking as the
roconstitution of the entire Bengal ( native ) Army was not likely to be seriously considered , unless under the very extreme circumstances that have actually occurred . The Bengal Army has thought fit to meet its employers rather more than half way , about forty of the seventy-four regiments of regular infantry having either mutinied ( wholly or in part ) or laid down their , arms , or been formally disbanded ; and the proportion we now give will , doubtless be much augmented on the arrival of another overland mail . Had
the mutineers failed in their attempt on Delhi , or been speedily deprived of their acquisition , the real temper of the Sepoys would not have been so openly demonstrated ; whilst on the other hand , every influence would have been exerted to persuade the world at large that the horrible outbreak at Meerut may be traced to special causes , and formed no part of any previously concerted scheme . But now—in the face of acknowledged facts— ' what trick , what device , what starting-hole' is left for those who might deem it for their interest to throw dust in
the eyes of the public ? Again , the same period of delay which , as we have shown , proved useful in elucidating the amount of reliance to be placed on the fidelity of the native soldier , has also done much to substantiate another position equally affirmed by us . In answer to those who will have it that the military discontents are but the reflex of popular feeling throughout British India , \ re confidently referred to the news that the nest incoming mail should bring , in disproof of any such idea . And that mail has arrived , and the whole burden of the intelligence which it communicates is in distinct support
of an opinion which we should not have ventured to hazard , unless on what appeared to be very sufficient grounds . No prince , no man of note , has joined the insurgents . A silly landholder in the neighbourhood of Allygliur ( one of those titular ' rajahs' in which that part of the country abounds ) , having made a treasonable demonstration on unceremoniousl
his own account , was y hanged by the district volunteers . The seini-barbarous G-oojurs , a sorb of domesticated "banditti , were naturally on the alert in every collectorate between Delhi and the Hills ; but these gentry do but pursue their natural and professional instincts , availing themselves of an opportunity too good to be resisted . Whenever the fall of Delhi becomes
known , every rat will make for Ids hole ; and the mutineer troops who were on their march to reinforce the besieged will disperse like morning mists at sunrise . "We have consistently maintained—however scant our -sympathy for rebels and murderers —that the Bengal Army has drifted into mutiny under the influence of long-continued mismanagement . In military as in all other matters , the rulers of India seem to have been afflicted with a mania for * assimilation , ' , to speak more correctly , for forcing upon the reluctant Oriental sundry uncongenial refinements of AVestom civilization . The Articles
of War for the Native Army are a pitiable example in point ; and their author , a man devoid of military knowledge or experience , and ( as we gather from tho late Sir C . Napier ' s report of him ) animated by the soul of a Jew attorney , has virtually commanded tho Bengal Army since General Tuokeii ceased to be its Adjutant-Genoral . Sir Pat . Quant , however , is well acquainted with tho character and merits of Colonel Birch ( Government Military ; Secretary ) , the oflicor to whom our observations refer . Tho
newsletters from Delhi inform us that tho 3 rd Cavalry mutineers , after glutting themselves with ( slaughter , would point to their lowor limbs , and ask the spectators ( alluding to tho
fetters they had worn ) , * ' Had we not good cause ? " It is related also , that these same men scorned to plunder ; ' they wanted only blood ! ' Eighty-five men , it will be recollected , of the 3 rd BengalLight Cavalry , were tried and convicted at Meerut of disobedience , amounting ( as there was a distinct combination ) to the crime of MTTTiNt ; fuid the punishment - of-mutiny in all standing armies that ever existed is simplydeath . But the ridiculous Bengal Articles of War necessitated the prisoners being
tried by native officers , their secret confederates . These , of course , would not pass a death sentence ; but they did not object , for form ' s sake , to sanction the cruel and insulting punishment ( quite a common one in the Bengal Army ) of twelve years' hard labour , in chains . Those only who know the feelings of a respectable Asiatic can appreciate the horrors such a prospect would present to him . Instant death , in any shape , he would regard as a comparative mercy . Now , had these offenders been brought before a Europeau court-martial , a sentence of death would have
been undoubtedly recorded against the whole ; but probably no more than the odd Jive would * have suffere ' d , either by lot or selection . The rest might have been simply discharged , or , on expression of penitence , have been allowed to resume their duties , with the sense of having had a narrow escape . But where punishment involves needless insult and disgrace , it degenerates into mere revenge . Our space forbids the prosecution of this topic at present ; but it could be easily shown that our relations with the people of India are replete with instances of ill-judged innovation such as we have quoted .
The Liberals And The Lords. The Constitu...
THE LIBERALS AND THE LORDS . The constituency of London must not / be deprived of its representation in Parliament because the Lords are in the way . The Commons may decide to admit Baron Eotuschild ; he may take his seat by virtue of an instruction to the Clerk of the House . Next year Lord Deubt may be told that the obnoxious form of oath is not only unnecessary , but ineffectual , and we really think that the
hereditary and prelatical majority can comprehend no other argument . It would be degrading the Legislature to keep up the burlesque of an annual vote in one House , and an annual veto in the other . " We may tolerate a pause in legislation , but we have come to a dead-stop ; it is useless to negotiate with political obstinacy or religious prejudice , with Lord Derdy , Lord Winchelsea , or the Bishop of Oxt'OKD . The foremost parlminentnry Liberals , we are glad to see , have adopted this view . Thev desire to admit Baron
Rothschild through the nocdlo ' s eye , and they are right . The main thoroughfare is choked by the peerage and episcopacy . Last Monday , at a preliminary meeting of Liberals , it was resolved to attempt a decisive movement , and in the course of the week the names of a hundred and thirty-nine Members of Parliament appeared at the foot of an invitation to a general conference in Palaceyard . Thore is a break in the stagnant surface ; but what if thirty-nine of theao gentlemen — sinking tho hundred — could
agree to act in concert and introduce a policy into tho discussions of tho Legislature ? They would constitute a power which no Minister could afford to drspiso . Thirty-nine Kofonnora have now , wo may suppose , one object in common : to cut the Poors adrift , on the Jewish quostion at least , aud purge intolerance out of tho House of Commons . This , then , is a starting-point . Tho oiul may not be readied by a singlb vote ; but the impetus will be giveu , ami tlioro aro grounds for tho appeal to tho constituencies suggested by the mew ber
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 18, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18071857/page/13/
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