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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 782, THE RED SEA TELEGRAPH. We are almost as ...

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      782 The Leaieb. [^0^37 ,A.U Errst 7, 185...

      782 THE LEAIEB . [^ 0 ^ 37 , A . u errsT 7 , 1858 .

      Ind ^ I A.

      IND ^ I A .

      The Red Sea Telegraph. We Are Almost As ...

      THE RED SEA TELEGRAPH . We are almost as much ashamed as rejoiced to announce that the Bed Sea telegraph is to be proceeded with . When the telegraph ought already to be open , and to have done much of its -work , then does the Government , driven on by the public voice , afford the necessary encouragement for this enterprise . Uone , we believe , but members of the Government , doubt that a telegraph to India is a necessary part of the machinery of our governmental system , for there is a strange sluggishness , ¦ which oppresses Government functionaries and frightens

      them from following on the full tide of enterprise . The Government adopted steamers only when the commercial marine no longer left it even the chance of experiment . They adopted iron after every one else had been confirmed in its use , and they hesitated and threatened its abandonment , on the ground of its behaviour under shot , when its employment was fully established . The screw found its last supporters in the Government offices . So , too , England was covered -with telegraphs before the Admiralty gave up the semaphores , and the submarine lines wexe laid -without Government help . A foreigner , -who knew nothing of England , would have expected

      that the Post-office would be found conducting the telegraphs . Luckily , although the Post-office is one of our best public establishments , and is , thanks to the exertions of Rowland Hill and able assistants , a model for the -world , telegraphs have in this country been left to private enterprise , or most places would have no telegraphsyet . Fifty years after Trevithick gave the great impulse to the railway system , and thirty after George Stephenson established it by practical example ^ Government is trying its hand at a parcels post , and contending -with railway companies about the means of conducting it , and which can be only effected by stripping the railway companies of a large revenue they have created .

      When Sir Macdoaald Stephenson began his successful career in the establishment of Indian railways , he only contemplated the connexion of the system with England by an overland railway and by a telegraph . It was he who laid the foundation of the route through Asia Minor , and devoted several years to the necessary negotiations , when it was taken out of his hands by intrigue . Happily he directed his attention to the Bed Sea route , and having received tlie support of many public men and leading capitalists , he applied to the Government for their countenance and support . It might hare been thought that the recommendations of such a man would have been at once adopted , but all that was accorded to his public services was the ear of the Government , and

      the barren profession of a favourable opinion . The Indian mutiny broke out , and he then the more firmly pressed the undertaking on the Government . They were obliged to promise him something , very little in fact , and left him and his company to carry on a kind of paper war with the Euphrates Valley Company without even effective political support . Thus the endeavours of Sir Macdonald and his co-directors proved abortive , and the shares not having been taken up by the public , the undertaking was suspended for a time , and -was considered dead , and it would have been so haf it not been for the energetic men concerned in its mn > nagement , for they paused not in their agitation , and they have now obtained a guarantee on a large amount of capital .

      This guarantee only amonnts to four and a half per cent ., and is no such liberal measure of public patronage alter all , but as Government securities float at three and a half peT cent ., the Treasury consider they have made a great concession , and as the public leave this four and a half per cent , as a stand-by , and really look to tlie eight often per cent , paid by other telegraph companies for their real return , the capital will be secured , though

      exposed to the liazard of a double defeat , for had the -market this week proved heavy , had any bad report been circulated from the Continent , or had a leading inrrttean , been attacked -with colic , Console might have gone Sown half-per cent ., and the company been defeated in obtaining Its capital , and the Government been aofeated tn a financial arrangement , such being the risks of the policy of the Treasury , -Which halta short of liberal encouragement .

      The eoncewilott of this guarantee Is a great triumph to the promoters of the undertaking , but it is a serious refleatlon on the late and present administrations that it should have beon so long delayed . India Is now provided with main lines of telegraph , communicating with the presidencies and leading stations , and had there l >« en a junction at Bombay or Kurrachee before the re-? olt , tbaft disastrous occurrence would have been stripped © f many of Its terrors . It would hare been known in inai

      a that at once suocout was demanded from homo , it would'have te « n announced thnt succour was already on its way , and many a sinking heart would have fccon

      strengthened for the brief struggle of holding our own till reinforcements arrived . How much the policy of the Government would have been strengthened has been matter of comment over and over again , but it has not been so strongly impressed upon the public mind how much the superior , but still subordinate , functionaries of the Government in the outstations would have been brought to a feeling of confidence and unanimity , knowing that the home and supreme Governments were acting iu harmonj * . We believe , too , the telegraph to England -would have had n fearful effect on the native princes , who have already felt what a mastery of resources the local telegraphs give to the Government , and who would have known

      that the mighty powers above the supreme Government , to whom appeal is made , were Teady on summons to pour forth the treasures with which India is yearly glutted , to reinforce the ships and steamers , ami to augment the European soldiery . AVe doubt not that many a hapless man , who is now attainted or in danger of forfeiture , would not have waverecL in his allegiance . The want , too , of this instantaneous means of doing more than communicating disasters , for it announces the progress of fleets and the march of armies , must hare materially aggravated the perils of the struggle . Within three days after Cawnpore it would have been

      known iu Delhi itself that a large force of European artillery was within two months ' reach , and that European armies would within three months reach the spot . Six weeks or two months saved in preparation would have been a powerful help to our efficiency in acquiring pur means of repression , but double that time saved in announcing that fleets and armies , artillery , engineers , cavalry , and infantry were in movement , would have stricken with awe many a mutineer . The moral elements of warfare are in the hands of great statesmen as powerful as the material instruments , and by a Napoleon are wielded with equal effect .

      To treat this undertaking in reference to its political services is , however , after all , not to do full justice to ' St . ; for if in an emergency like the present its services are invaluable , yet such emergencies pass away , and the ordinary avocations of Government do not become of greater moment than those of the ; merchant . It matters little whether one thousand sabres or one thousand bales of cotton are ordered by telegraph ; whether X . Y ., B . C . S ., is ordered out , whether Dowb is to be cared for , or Messrs . Smith , Brown , and Robinson send

      for an extra clerk ; but the demands of commerce on the telegraph are greater than those of the Government . In peace or war , however , the telegraph has always its work and a constant source of income . It is easy to see ,, that at the worst , the Government will always cover its guarantee , for it has business enough to pay the required income to the telegraph company ; but in effect the result of the operations will be to give the Government telegraphic communications much cheaper than it could by its own exertions obtain it .

      The income must , however , be enormous , because the commerce of India and China is enormous . The silk trade alone , to take an example , can bear a large toll , for the moment the crop fails in Europe numerous orders will be sent out for purchase , and the Eastern silk be delivered before the next year ' s European silk can come in . 3 Tow operations are disturbed , because when the failure of the European crop has been announced , the news is three months reaching China and the silks four months coming back , and they reach England , perhaps , at the moment when a heavy silk crop has been announced in Lombardy and its supplies are coming in , and thereby a glut , or fear of a glut , is created , prices go down , and an individual firm , as many did in these

      late operations , loses a hundred thousand pounds , for silk was bought in China at higher prices than ruled here . Then there is cotton ; the Indian export of cotton is to a great degree a season export dependent on a short crop in the United States , and -when there is a heavy crop in the United States Indian cotton shipments run great risk of bringing a loss to the shippers . The telegraph will set this right , and cotton will be shipped from Bombay and placed here before even the prospects of the next year's crop in the States can bo known or can touch the market . In the sugar operations consequent upon Bhort crops and increased consumption , the

      telegraph would have given greater safety in his operations to the East Indian merchant . Wools , hemp , rice , oil-seeds , and all articles of produce dependent on the prices of other markets can be more safely speculated in with the telegraph , for the merchant here can advise his house or agent in the East to what prlco lie can go in his purchases , and so press the local markets as to work down the local stocks and Increaso the shipments . Great as have been the effects of the telegraph on European and American commerce , they are as yet not fully known , noT will they he felt till the Bed Soa telegraph , or the Atlantic telegraph are in operation .

      The value of tho telegraph in the export trade Is no less , for it anounces two critical dates of the market , glut and deficiency , and allows the merchant to act accordingl y . In narrow markets glut is quickly followed by short stocks , and thero aro particular articles tliat are always subject to vicissitudes . There is a further contingency affeoting tho merchant . Ho may bo running short of a particular article , of -which ho has a regular

      consumption in his own connexion , and the result m " be , he may bo obliged to try for supplies from some oS firm , or he may be unable to obtain them , while bv t legraph , he would get aid in several ways : he nfiX know when to calculate on his own supplies , that a shin on which he depended had put into the Cape in distress that a bargain had been made by the home corresnon dents of his neighbours * firms , or that supplies had been ordered for him from some neighbouring port , and wen * already shipped , and on their way . This is but a small portion of the business of a tele graph company , for the personal communications would afford a considerable revenue , but in fact , there is no doubt in the mind of any practical man that , with nni dent management the income of . the Free Teleo-ranK Company must far exceed the guarantee

      The Civil Service Oe India. The Familiar...

      THE CIVIL SERVICE OE INDIA . The familiar term of " the Civil Service" ap-icars to be of such simple signiQcancc tliat it mH ^ bc supposed it would in all p laces mean the same" hi no-Iu England it means the general body of public servants , of all ranks and conditions , who are employed in the various civil departments of Government ; and the only public servants not included are those ( like , for example , Cabinet Ministers ) - ' whose employment is casual . It includes all ranks as , for example , the Judges of the County Courts and the Judges of "Westminster Hall , the Government secretaries and head clerks of the < n-eat

      political departments , and equally the clerk ' s of every grade below them . The Civil Service has a certain unity and homogeneity , thus defined . We place before our readers this familiar description for the purpose of remarking that it does not apply to the Indian" Civil Service" according to the Indian use of the term . The Indian Civil Service is a part , not the y hole ; and there is no term that wo are aware of in use in India to designate the whole . The general body of Indian civil officials , indeed , is spoken of in England as the Civil Service ; and journals , such as the Civil Service Gazette , report appointments indiscriminately in every branch in tlie same words ; but this requires correction .

      The term " the Civil Service" in India , belongs to a section numerically small , and whose more specific designation , is the covenanted civil servants of Government ; in fact the term has been , by a . ' soi't of arrogation , applied exclusively to one section , anil so they axe the Civil Service , net ? excellence , and all other public servants must be content Vith their names of office { e . g . Moonsiff , Sudder Arriecn , & c , as the case may be ) , or to he " uncoyenanted" servants . We have given this explanation of the term as a necessary introduction to the explanation of the peculiar institution .

      The world at large , and unprejudiced and uninitiated persons , will at once perceive how arbitrary is the classification . which arrogates to a part a name winch , in its legitimate sense , belongs to the whole . But in this arrogation there is much more than a mere name . Assumed as a distinction , it is used as a title ; and so it comes to denote an aristocracy of public servants . This , be it observed , is no imputation of ours ; it is the view -which tlie members of this class take of their order and of

      themselves . Moreover , it has important practical consequences ; it affects intercourse , manners , conversation , and official deportment and administration . Many persons probably may think this an exaggeration . Well , we will ' admit thai there arc many exceptions ; we allude to the men of sterling worth whom no system or institution can spoil ; but , on the other hand , there arc many more who dolight in these personal pretensions ; who regard them as the essential support of their importance ; to whom they are vital principles ; and who insist on reaping the proper fruits from them . Some of those fruits may easily be imagined . We will only . give a short , instance—the disparagement , for example , of nativo rank ; a very great rajah must toe , comparatively , a very small man in the presence of tlie official ; and the native luibit of fawning and dissembling must be called into exercise to please that exalted class of public servants . Wo havo , however , still to point out several important conscrnionccs of this peculiar classification of public civil servants . It affects salaries , making them absurdly unequal . It alTccts also tlie division of employments , and their distribution , We will begin with their distribution-This class has its privileged offices ; in other words , there aro certain oflioes which belong to this clnsa by exolusivo right , and which , therefore , cannot legally bo conferred on other persons . . Prom this circumstance of privilege , this brunch of the public service has been called a monopoly service— -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 782, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_07081858/page/22/