s
an act of injustice, inexcusably undertaken, and incompetently
executed: and relinquished by their successors in the very hour of
triumph, with a wise self-denial which no one will suspect that a
Whig could have ever practised.

The cloven foot has here too plainly been revealed. It is not this
phrase or that procession in particular that has displeased the Whigs.
It is the abandonment of a policy which they dared not proclaim in
India, and which they could not justify in England. They are always
hankering after it still. Mr. Vernon Smith: "Considered it most
absurd for any Governor General to declare publicly that our Indian
empire had reached the limits which nature had assigned to it. Why,
what were the limits which nature had assigned to our Indian empire?
In early days, the Mahratta ditch was said to be its natural limit;
and why was the Sutlej or the Indus to be more the boundary of our
empire than the Himalayas?"

Even Lord John Russell, who _now_ acknowledges the wisdom of
surrendering Affghanistan, declares, in almost so many words, that
his party have shrunk from a general vote of censure because they
could not properly put it, and have chosen this Act as "not the worst,"
but the most convenient to attack. What the other errors of Lord
Ellenborough are, or whether there are any, except the exploded
story of the incivility to Mr. Amos, is nowhere definitely,
discoverable in their discussions, and is not likely for some time
to assume a greater degree of consistency than vague Whig calumnies
and general Whig dissatisfaction. Let them come to something definite,
and see how they will fare. If, as their old friend Lord Brougham
said, "revelling in defeat, and intoxicated with failure," they know
not when they have had enough--if they desire a contest on some other
issue--let them name their day and abide the result.

In conclusion, we would only observe, what a contrast the conduct of
the Whig party towards Lord Ellenborough exhibits to that of their
opponents towards Lord Auckland! The ex Governor-General is not
absent, but here to defend himself; and every one sees how much room
there is for assailing his measures. Their calamitous result would
of itself go far to support the charge of imprudence, or something
worse. But not a word has been said against him that could be avoided;
and even those statements that necessarily reflect upon his
discretion, have been extorted from the Conservative party, in reply