xvi] MISGIVINGS AS TO THR FUTURE. 677
bain and jmmediate result is that we shall have a bankrupt 1857-®mpire
 of 150 millions of people on our backs. The end of Zr. 53.
this year will leave the Company minus not much short of
100 millions sterling, including guaranteed railways, &o.
And then comes all the sacrifices of life and treasure which
We shall make to put down the rebellion and reconguer
India. And nobody asks what benefit we shall derive from
Our success !| You know my opinion of old: that I never
ould feel any enthusiasm for the reform of our Indian
Government, for I failed to satisfy myself that it was possible
 for us to rule that vast empire with advantage to its
People or ourselves. I now regard the task as utterly hopeless,
 Recent and present events are placing an impassable
gulf between the races. Conquerors and conquered can
Dever live together again with confidence or comfort. It
Will be a happy day when England has not an acre of ter-Yifory
 in Continental Asia. But how such a state of things
18 to be brought about, is more than I can tell. I bless my
Stars that I am not in a position to be obliged to give
Public utterance to my views on the all-absorbing topic
of the day, for I could not do justice to my own con-Victions
 and possess the confidence of any constituency in
the kingdom. For where do we find even an individual
Who is not imbued with the notion that England would sink
bo ruin if she were deprived of her Indian Empire? Leave
We, then, to my pigs and sheep, which are not labouring
Wder any such delusions. . , . .”
“October 18. (To Colonel Fitzmayer.)—Do we find that
Government and Parliament acquit themselves so well
domestic matters that they have a surplus of efficiency
“nd energy for Hindoostan? Shall we give education to
India, or reform its criminals, or abate its crime, or mode-"ate
 its religions bigotry and intolerance? Can we do these
things at home?! If a Board of Works can’t give us a