WHO SHALL BE GOVERNORGENERAL ?

Lyttelton Times, 26 August 1858, Page 3

WHO SHALL BE GOVERNORGENERAL ?

(From the ' Times.')

It is now quite clear that the differences which shook the walls of Parliament on the subject of the government of India have narrowed themselves into a very sm'all point' indeed. Discussion, truth, and publicity have done their usual work, and air that remains to settle seems to be the manner in which the Indian council shall be'chosen. The new era. is, in fact, inaugurated, and the" East India Company only holds office until its successor shall be appointed. A change is, also, we may presume, impending over the government of India in India; not an organic change, but one which in an absolute Asiatic monarchy is often more momentous-—a change in the person of the resident sovereign. It is not likely that Lord Canning, conscious as we believe him to be of high desert in a most trying situation, of; having maintained calmness and presence of mind in the midst of a community frantic with the most exaggerated apprehension, and of having remembered the; dictates of justice when all around him were crying for indiscriminate slaughter and extermination,/should be willing to retain office under the Tory Ministry. They gave when in opposition, or thought it necessary to appear to give, implicit confidence to all the wretched and groundless figments of the Calcutta agitators, and did all they could to embitter a situation already more v than. sufficiently onerous and distressing. ;It js; not' likely, then,

that .Lord; Canning* should continue to serve under Lord Ellenborough, and it therefore behoves the government and the country to. turn their attention to the choice of a successor. Of the two gifted brothers to whom we owe the preservation of India, one; has been swept away by the torrent that is just subsiding, but the other, and we believe the abler—is still left us; and we think it would be absolute madness if, in the event of a vacancy in the government of India,-any consideration were allowed to outweigh the claims of Sir John Lawrence. It would be faint praise indeed to call him an able civil administrator, for he and. his brother may claim to be the inventors of a new system of policy, which, though rough and simple to' European eyes, is admirably adapted for the people for whom \it has been devised. The best tribute to the merits of the government of the Punjaub is, that Lord Canning and his council have felt that they can do nothing better for the population of the ancient seat of the Mogul monarchy than transfer them to the order of things devised for the coercion and pacification of rude and semibarbarous tribes lately ranged against us in deadly conflict. We should not permit ourselves to doubt as to the probability of the selection of Sir John Lawrence were it not for the announcement which appeared some time ago, apparently on good authority —that it was the intention of the Government, in the very probable event of the resignation of Lord Canning, to confer the office of Governor-General on Lord Stanley. Now, of Lord Stanley we would speak with every respect. He is a very advanced liberal, is actuated, we doubt not, by the best intentions, possesses good abilities, which he has cultivated by much travel abroad and much study at home, but as an administrator he is wholly untried, and there are reasons in the speculative and philosophical mind which may lead us to doubt whether he may deal with details with the same facility with which he can manipulate principles. At any rate, we trust it will not be on India, in its present critical state, that he will for the first time try his powers of administration. Lord Stanley has undoubtedly, made; a very heavy sacrifice in compliance with the wishes of his father, and laid the tory government under weighty obligations, by consenting to act with men with whom he has: no feeling and no principle in common. " By all means let these . obligations be suitably acknowledged. Let Lord Stanley haye anything* he likes, except the g-overnment of India,,to the exclusion of the man who, above all- others, is most fitted for the task. 7