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    were in danger of massacre . Tlie Government haS an alternative before it . Beinforcements might be sent through Egypt so as to arrive at their destination by the middle of August , or they miglit go round the Cape , to reach in . November . The choice was between six weeks and five months . No one in India doubted that the overland route might be made available . Lord Cajnnibtomade arrangements for bringing the troops from Suez . Lord Stra / tfosd be Redcxiitje ,

    so early as the end of June , telegraphed from . Constantinople that he would procure from the Sultan ; the necessary firman . Nothing was wanting but the acquiescence of the departments at home . The Governor-Greneral ^ himself reported his preparations , and waited , anxiously expecting the head of a column to . appear at Suez . As the Daily News says , " "When Lord Canning was

    dictating the above paragraph , Lord Panmube was on his way to the Moors . " And what is the ministerial apology ? That if we had rescued India within two months instead of six , foreign nations might have sneered at us , because we had been compelled to accept assistance from Egypt ! "We will not add one word to the astounding confessions of the Cabinet .

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    INDIAN DEBATE . There tia-ve been several discussions on Indian subjects in Parliament , chiefly in the House of Lords , followed by a meeting at the Xondon Tavern . Two objects have been kept in view : that of insisting upon a reformed government for India , and that of fixing upon particular individuals the responsibility of the Sepoy rebellion . The words of Fox , ' infamy ^ attac hes somewhere , ' might form the text of the successive interrogations pressed by

    independent politicians on the Ministers of the Crown . These inquiries have hitherto failed , and must fail , if we depend upon the implicated "bodies for evidence . They have the privilege of garbling public documents , of suppressing testimony , of intimidating witnesses- —in fact , a prerogative of falsehood belongs to the Executive in Great Britain . Mr . Vekwon Smith is asked in the plainest terms whether the Board of Control had ever

    received any communication from India since the Marquis of Daxhottsie's annexations , suggesting an increase of the army . He answers that nothing of the kind passed officially between the local authorities and the Board in Cannon-row . It would be a gross mistake to infer , from this , that Mr . Vanstttabt ' s question was not one clue to the mystery of incompetence and neglect which has brought our Indian empire to the brink of ruin . Parliament , however , is satisfied , and the abortive administration , of the Board of

    Control Temains without additional censure . It is not improbable , however , that Mr . Smith , in spite of the personal influences shielding him , will be compelled to retire from ihe Cabinet . Even a " Whig Minister may he too hopelessly convicted to be protected by the explanations of his colleagues . Public opinion does not demand any rnn-* 3 om sacrifice . It simply protests against Mr . Yernon Smith , avIio has proved himself , from first to last , inenpablo of understanding the Indian crisis . Lord

    Pal-MEitsroN must , at length , be convinced , wo should imagine , that the actual President of the Board of Control is the weak point in his igovernment , and that to supersede him would close nt least one nvenuo of attack during the serious months of fcho sesaion after February . Until then , by general consent , the opinions of the House will not bo explicitly taken on any question of permanent public interest ; Lord Derby ,, Lord EltwEniioiiouqh , and a few other peers , have occupied the

    floor of the Lords , and returns Lave been moved from the Commons ; but , if Parliament intends to act , in reality , as a high Court of Inquisition and put Ministers upon their justification , no aaiovementwill be . made until after the Christmas recess . Outside of Parliament agitation has begun . "We cannot be expected to treat seriously the few raw lectures delivered at local

    institutions , and wound up with perorations . on the salt tax , the Sudder Courts , and other topics fresUy-gleaned from pamphlets and tpublic journals ; "but the London Tavern assemblage yas of a political character . We should have thought more highly of the statesmanship of some of the members of Parliament present had they avoided committing themselves to a set of resolutions so desultory and violent , prefaced by a series of statements , many of which were incorrect in point of fact , and

    suggestive of totally false inferences . It is time to reform the Government of India ; but when will it be time for politicians to master the intricacies of the subject , and prepare themselves to deal with it in a , manner that will " not excite a smile in any one of v the three Presidencies ? The "Wednesday meeting was told that England had taught the Sepoy that lesson of cruelty which has returned to plague the inventor . We cannot trust ourselves to characterize such an

    assertion . Is it impossible to desire a better Government for India than that of the East India Company without going so far as to maintain that the King of DeItHX ripping open forty English women , the Delhi rebels burning their wounded prisoners , and the Najta . Sahib choking a tank with the bodies of women and children , took the policy of England as their example , and might almost plead it as their justification ? The assertion refutes itself . What

    does the lowest demagogism ever utter that is more contemptible than this slanderous exaggeration ? we do not believe that any class of Indian reformers , approaching their object in this uninformed and rancorous spirit , will accomplish much for India or England . The work to be carried out is one of permanent consolidation , and to build securely in any country of Asia is difficult enough when the builders are not Asiatics . Hitherto , the oral discussions that have taken place on Indian topics , since the outbreak of the mutiny , have been of little practical import .

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    THE NEW RELIGIOUS LIBERTY CLAUSE . Out of evil cometh good ; it seems probable that the resistance offered to the very modest measure with -which Lord SnAFTESBUitx : proposes to meet the Exeter Hall case may lead to such an agitation as will increase the effect of his movement . The Special Services Committee appointed by members of the Church of England under the sanction of the Primate of all England , is thwarted in providing services according to the established forms , by tlie resistance of the incumbent of St .

    Michael ' s parish , who asserts the privileges conferred upon , the pastor of the parish by the rule of our ' parochial system . ' The members of the Church of England , clergy aa well as laity , are thus precluded from , offering divine service to the public in a manner which lias proved at once attractive and beneficial , l > y tho impracticability of a parish

    clergyman . It was supposed that Mr . Edouari' objected to tho performances in Exeter Hall bocause they tended to draw away his own congregation ; but that is not the case : ho is actuated mainly by the fact that his consent was not nsked this year as it was laat year . The dignity of his office has not been sufficiently respected , and the entreaties of hia bishop have not uufliced to bend

    his inflexibility . If the pastor is answerable for the cure of souls throughout < the parish , the bishop is so throughout the diocese ; for the greater authority includes the less . Bat there are some persons , it seems , who hold that the less includes tlie greater , that the lower authority is higher , and that the pastor can overrule the permission of bis bishop . There are bishops who think that such is not tlie law , and the Lord Chief Justice of tlie Queen's Bench is

    of opinion that the bishop ' s authority is concurrent with that of the incumbent ; but , to settle all doubts , Lord Shaftesbttry liss applied to Parliament . His bill only proposes to introduce , it may be said , an additional clause in the Act of 1855 , 'to secure the liberty of religious worship . ' That act was principally intended to exempt from penalties those who perform , divine service in

    uneonsecrated places ; Lord Shattesbubts : now proposes that , except in parishes of a very small size , the incumbent should be unable to prohibit additional services save with the concurrence of his bishop . The bill , ¦ therefore , appears to amount to little more than a declaratory act ; and it is specifically limited to an object which even the opponents of the particular step declare to be desirable if not

    necessary . Lord Shaftesuttet is met by several objections ; one , that the congregation attending divine service in Exeter Hall did not belong to the working classes , for whom the special services were designed . But this ¦ is meb by positive evidence from witnesses of the highest character , who say that members of the working classes did form the mass of the congregation . Another objection is , that the bill would make an important innovation in the parochial system : but it can only operate where tlie parochial system is used

    to repel numbers of the population from the ministrations of the Church of England . The closing of Exeter Hall against the members of the Church of England has , in the first place , called forth Nonconformists to take the place of the Established clergy , with the remarkable concession which we noticed last week , that the service of the Church of England was performed by a Nonconformist minister . It has also induced the dignitaries of the Church to prepare special services in great cathedrals . It is a question how far those buildings are suited to the delivering of the voice so that it can be heard in the more

    open parts . But one fact is clearly established by these experiments . Members of the working classes decidedly object to go into many parish churches , where , as Lord Sha 3 ? - tesbtjry says , they are ' pewed up to th © eyes , ' and where any but the pew-renters are usually represented by a few paupers . In some of the new churches there aro free sittings ; but here , ngain , members of the

    working class believe that they are only consulting their self-respect when they decline to be sorted away from "the rest of the congregation ; those who enn pay for exclusiveneas being penned off from the ' common people . ' When buildings are open to them , as Bxetei Hall has been , without the slightest distinction of rank , position , dress , or any precedence but that of ' i \ rut o . oxwe first served '—

    when tho sermons nro composed with the special object of appealing to the undorefcandings and feelings of tho congregation . —then a crowded congregation exhibits the interesting spectacle of high statesmen and distinguished persons mingled on the platform , 01 in the body of tho hall , with the humblest members of the community . < - Members of different sects may objoci seriously to tho doctrines which are pxrt for ward nt somo of those miscellaneous meet in ^ s . Church men will conscientiously con

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    3 To . 403 , December 12 , 1857 . 1 THE LEABEB , ! rifi »

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 12, 1857, page 1187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2221/page/11/