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selves mere slaves- of the- Feringhees , and' that at last the- Feringhees would- destroy their caste and-turn them into Feringhees-bodj' and soul , so that they might be no longer able to make excuses against going on'board ship tofight against the Russians and the Burmese . " With the exception of a few ' general service' or volunteer battalions none of the Bengal Infantry were engaged to-embark on board ship or to serve out of India . No . Brahmin-or Rajpoot can preserve the strict rules of his coBte on board of a ship . For years had taunts and sarcasms of this description been bandied about in every bazaar , for years had these matters been seriously discussed by the Sepoys-
themselves . They were left entirely to their own devices , and had a public opinion of their own , and aspirations , fears , jealousies ; aims , and a national pride , totally unsuspected and totally unconjectured by their English officers , very few of whom bad ever in their lives sought acquaintance with a native , or met with one whom they were either able or willing to converse with on terms of equality or familiarity . Year by year the general execrations increased , until at last their own country , the birthplace of nearly one-half of the Bengal Sepoys , Ouds , was annexed ; the King , their chief , the representative in their eye 3 of all the ancient renown of their native province , th 3 faithful and devoted friend of the English
Government , even he was condemned to be a mere pensioner , and departed as a suppliant for justice from the palace of his ancestors , while his elephants , his horses , even the contents of his wardrobe , were sold by auction at Cawnpore as state property . But immediately following this climax of annexation , touching the very hearths and homes of the Sepoys , came an order of Government directing that for the future all recruits for the Bengal army should be engaged to serve in foreign parts j and to embark in ships whenever it should be necessary . It was true then ! AH India had been conquered , and now the Sepoys were to be sent to foreign countries . The order indeed was BKide only to apply to recruits , and not to Sepoys already in the service ^ but who coul d believe thnt they
¦ would long be spared ? The war with' Russia was just concluded '; then came the Persian war and the expected war with Chinai The greased cartridges followed , most opportunely ; and there could not be a doubt that the intention of Government was to qualify them all for shipboard and foreign service by treacherous ceremonial- defilement , by loss of caste . They were ripe for revolt , they were ready to believe anything ; a few active ambitious Mahomedans now saw the opportunity , took care to fan the flame , and to spread a hundred inspiriting rumours of a general rising ; the emrnissaries of the Lucknow nobles and officials did their best when the first mutinies took pi ace , but I doubt if there ever was a regularty organized conspiracy . The struggle must have taken place within a very few years ; it could not have been deferred much longer . The Sepoys were the first in the field , because they were the only organized collected body of armed men ; because they knew that no one would begin without them , and also
because the last insult and actually exciting cause of the outbreak , the supposed greaaed cartridges , forced them into the field . This has been no praetorian mutiny ; the Sepoys were led to expect that every native chief , and every man of the warlike castes , would join at their signal , and expel the cold , haughty , and grasping Europeansfor ever from India . And throughout India , though all weretaken by surprise—for the actual outbreak was not the result of a carefully arranged and premeditated conspiracy—there has been an almost universal sympathy for the rebels , and even those natives who well knew the hopelessness of the attempt , and the ruin which a . local and temporary success would bring upon themselves , rejoiced at a blow at last having been struck at the pride of the British Government . In India , as in all other lands , the rich and prosperous are Conservatives , and there are many enlightened and loyal subjects in all classes' but the very low eat ; but no one who has observed the signs of the times can doubt ; in . what' direction the hopes of the people at' large pointed .
In my next letter I' propose to examine the results , the loss and gain to us of . thin rebellion ; the lessons to 1 ) o drawn from it ; and the remedies for' the state- of thiugs which keeps us still as strangers and foreigners' in the midst of a population which has been ready to full down and worship ua for the laat hundred years , but who does notrUko being kicked and spurned' —remedies which would make India a source of strength and wealth to us inetoad of weakness and expense , and which would inaugurate that human fellowship between the pupil and the- tutor races which alonp can inako India an integral port of the Britiah Empire . ¦ y ¦ - — -. _ 25 . ™ Y . m
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THE ORUfiNT . CHINA . Tun bombardment of Canton coinmonood at daylight on the 28 tU of December , « nd was continued during the whole of the day and night . Tlio assault , wlilch was in three divisions—• -two English and one French- —was made at , elx o ' clock on the morning of the 20 th . The Kolghta -within the town wore In our noaaoaalim by nine in tllo morning . Gougli's Fort wan tuken at two
o ' clock , p , m ., and blown up . The advance within the city was- but feebly contested , and the damage to the town was very small . Captaiix Bate , of her Majesty ' s ship Actjeon , was killed . The number of English employed on the occasion was 4600 ; of French , 900 . Prussia * it seems , will be forced into joining France and England in the operations against the Chinese . Prussia is bound by treaty to defend ships under the Oldenburg flag ; and a vessel belonging to that State , which had been wrecked on the Chinese coast , having been plundered and the crew ill-used , the Oldenburg Government has called on Prussia to demand reparation from the Celestials . CIKCASSIA . It is stated in the continental papers that , after a succession of actions , which lasted from the 7 th to the 14 th of December , Schamyl has been obliged to defer to the desire of the whole population of the Great Tchetchna , and give in his submission to Russia .
JAPAN . Prince Tzi-Kuzen , the nephew of the Japanese Emperor , is about to visit Eui-ope . lie was to embark about the end of December at Simoda , with a numerous suite , on board the Dutch vessel the Samarang-, chartered for the purpose by the Japan Government . He will visit France , England , Russia , and Holland , and return by way of America . Among the persons composing his suite are two Japan engineers , whose mission Avill be to examine into the system of rail \ va 3 s . An electric telegraph ( six miles long ) from the Emperor ' s summer palace to Jeddo , his capital , is now iu successful operation .
TKKSIA . The Hon . Mr . Murray , our Minister at Teheran , is seriously ill from chronic d 3-sentery . His physicians have recommended him to quit the coun try as soon as he can bear the fatigue of travelling . He lias transmitted to Mr . Alderman Finnis the sum of 500 / ., contributed to the Indian Mutinj' Relief Fund by the Shah , and 250 / . for the same charitable purpose from the Persian Prime Minister .
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NAVAL LETTERS FROM CHINA . The following extracts of private letters from our fleet in China will , we think , be found interesting , although they are but a prelude to the latest news from that quarter of the world : — H . M . S . , Canton River , Kov . 25 , 1857 . We had an alarm last night . The Chinamen tried to float a fire-junk down on top of two gunboats , but made a mess of it . It burnt beautifully . We have had a great disappointment to-day ; we were to have commenced the attack on Canton at the end of this week , but the Admiral has just sent to say tliat Lord Elgin has put it off for three weeks , as there is a chance of their coming to terms ; but 1 must say this is only humbugging us . We have been many months blockading this infernal river ( other ships longer ) , and nothing come of it yet . The Mandarins are trying , I think , to get us to hold on until the hot weather sets in again .
H . M . 8 . , Canton Iiioer , Dec . 12 , 1857 . The mail goes home in a day or two , and as we are about to move up to Canton , I muy not have an opportunity to write next mail . The Plenipotentiaries have beon holding no end of conferences at Macao ; the upshot is that the French fleet have joined ours in the blockade of the river , and will join with us in the attack , with one thousand men . We get no news of the intonded operations ; nothing but shaves . However , we are ready for work , and don ' t care how soon it begins . Two battalions of the marines moved up to our most utlvanced point on the river yesterday , and alao the Calcutta ' s boats , and good number of the gunboats , so it looks like the last volume , of the History of Canton . Macao Fort , our most advanced guard , is about three mile ? from Canton city , which lattur can bo pluinly seen from a , pagoda in the fort . You must not confound
Muoao city with this fort , oa tho city ia at the entrance of tho river , and tha fort eighty miles up . However , I suppose you will sco all the authentic chit-chut in tho papers , so shall drop tho subject . December 13 . —A flug of truco waa sent in to Canton yesterday tjo call upon tho non-combutants to withdraw , aa the bombardment will coirimwmo on Thursday next ( this is Sunday ) . Tho Admiiul comes up tho river to-morrow for a full due , and wo sliull follow him immediately , Tho French attuck tho eastern end of Ilia town , and tho English the west , I am to coinmuiul either tho Field Gun or Resorvo Kino Company of this ship . Our equipment is aa complutu aa cim bo expected for fiahes out . of wutor . Your Immblo servant mounta r knapf ) aokv-&crjrtl » e' 8 u > neTttB-ai ) wW ( oj ; .-r , J . r-hopoTttt . give you full particulars , of tho fall of tho Celostiul city In my noxt .
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STATE OF TRADE . Thadk at Manchester continued , during tho wook ending laat Saturday , to show hopeful fouturos . Tho general tranauctions of Birmingham wore not brisk , but there woro signs of returning life , and a grout aurliig trade in oxpeotod . Tho Jucp trade of No / ttinghuul waa vory quiet ' , and tho houiory trade waa improcouontculy dull .
Depression was still felt at Sheffield , but the workmen employed at Messrs . Beatson and Co . ' s Midland Ironworks , who recently struck in resistance of a threatened reduction of ten per cent , in the rate of wages , have given lip the contest , on condition of receiving full wa <* es for the fortnight ending the 30 th ult ., which was agreed to . At Wolverhampton there has been a continuance of the steady-improvement in the home demand for iron but the foreign trade , as-yet , exhibits no signs of recoverv . The same mav be said of the hardware
manufactures . The strike of the puddlers and millmen is virtually at an end , the men having shown a dispositio n to submit . Messrs . C . L . Browning ; : nd Jackson , proprietors of ironworks at Millfields and Deepfields , failed during the week , with liabilities supposed to amount to about 30 , 000 / ., and assets equal to a dividend of nine or ten shillings in the pound . The demand for wools at Bradford has been very Jinn ; but the other trades of the place continue to exhibit languor . Leeds , Halifax , and Leicester again show improvement in the leading branches of business .
A letter from the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England to the First Lord of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer , respecting the enlargement of their issues beyond the limit lixed by the Bank Act of 1844 ( iu continuation of correspondence presented to Parliament on the 3 rd of December , 1857 ) , has been published . We here read : — " The purposes to which the excess of issue should be applicable having been prescribed in your letter of the 12 th of ISJoveuibe to be to enable the bank ' iu that emergency to mee the demands for discounts and advances upon approved securities , ' it may be necessary to state what portion of the said 2 , 000 , 000 / . was actually made use of and employed as directed in discounts and advances to the public . The greatest amount issued to the public on any one day was 928 , 000 / ., and the miniiai / i / i lo ^ JUO / ., or a
daily average ol 488 , 830 / . tor eighteen days , tho period during which any portion of the 2 , 000 , 000 / . was out of the hands of the Uauk . The remainder was throughout unemployed , and was retained iu the Banking Department till the whole 2 , 000 , 000 / . of notes were returned to the Issue Department on the 24 th of December , and the securities withdrawn therefrom . The total reserve- oil the previous day was ~ 7 , 971 , 000 / . It may be observed that , as respects . the position of the Bank of England accounts , an earlier period might have been selected for the return of the notes , as , iu case of their becoming agaiu uecessary , recourse might bo had to the Is ^ . ue Department as before ; but the Court deemed it preferable that this partial measure should be deferred till they could with prudence reduce the rate of discount below ten per cent ., by which the powers granted by the Act would at the same time be brouyht to a termination . "
In the general business of the port of London during the week ending last Saturday , there has beau little improvement . The number of ships roported inward was 183 , including 28 with corn , Hour , rice , &c , 13 with sugar , and 1 from China , with 12 , 841 packages of tea and 1380 bales of silk . The number cleared outward was 107 , including 12 in ballast . Those on the berth , loading for the Australian colonies , amount to 47 .
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AMERICA . Kansas appears to be progressing towards tho solution of its difficulties . The Free State men have elected all their oflieors by small majorities , uud they have large working majorities in each house . The military operations against Utah will be pushed forward with great vigour in the spring . General Scott , Cominander-m-Chiof , will , it is expected , bo despatched to California , in order to arrange thuro au expedition which will attuck the Mormons in tho rear . In tho meanwhile , Colonel Johnston will bo reinforced . The bills for increasing thu army have beon introduced into Congress , but aro opposed by tho Republicans , who I ' car that tho enhanced military power will bo used 1 '\ jv the coercion of Kansas .
Tho Senate Committee on Foreign Relations havo made a report ( Mr . Douglass dissenting ) on Central American ufluirs und the Neutrality Lawa , iu which the } -denounce tho species of brigandage culled ' Filibustering , ' and state that tho Neutrality Luw of 1818 is suuiciont to moot tho cuso of General Walker , as fur as arrest on tho high sous is concerned . They aro of opinion thnt tho arrest of Walker on Niuuniguiiu territory was without wniTJinr of law ; but that , an it was done with an exeollont intention , verbal censure of tho act is all ' » ctux bo required . They finally report a bill uiiioiuling the Neutrality Luw ua lur aa regards tho bringing of olleudora to trial . From California wo hour of tho destruction by lire of tlro ttfwn-of-Downiovillerentailing-ft 4 odtf > oCaboHLh « l . Ui ; million ilollaiH .
Tho nowaof tho death of General Have ] wok has croutod groat sympathy at Now York , und , aa a murk of respool for that noblo oillocr , tho ( lnga woro displayed ou tho 24 "i ult . half-mast high . A dOBpntcJi from Mobilo reports the arrival Micro ot Walker tho Filibuster , mul hjs urreat , but subsequent dlsohurgo , by tho authorities . Another telegram from the sumo oity miya s — "An onthusinstlo mooting was hold horo on Monday night . Walker , in a speech , uis-
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150 , T H E Jj E A 3 > E ^ pFot 412 , February 13 , 1858 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 13, 1858, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2230/page/6/
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