The Express. — London, England, 1853-06-25 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSF: OF LORDS.—FRIDAT, JUNI. 24. The LORD CIIANCILLOS took kis seat at 6 o'clock. PETITIONS PREsENTF.D._ IN( Lipictiz or lIANIV•TP.AD 11FAT14.—By Lord CASIP• BELL, from copyholders of the manor of Hampstead, welling an act which had f..r its object the inclosure of Hempstead heath. The bill sought to set aide the ill of the late Sit The , . Welon, whereby his suee, -sort were for bidden to grant a lease of his property at Hampstead for sore than 21 years, and its object was to enable the present possessor of the property to grdnit leases in perpetuity, the consequence of which would be that there would soon be buildings in all directions on the heath. The petitioners stated that they had paid higher tints upon the under- standing that th , will of the late Sir Themes Wilson wouid be adhered to. This was the fifth time that au attempt had been mule to pan a bill through parliament for this Porrak , - _ Tit e LAW or SEW:Tr.-nit ‘TION.-117 the Bishop of WIN CHESTER, from clergymen and other* in Camberwell, pr ayi n g for an inquiry into the law of sequestraion of Umliens for debt. TRIBUNALS OF COMMERCE. By Earl GRANVILLE. fent. merchants in the City of Loadco, in favour of the institution of tribunals of com merce, and prayiap fora rilorin of mercantile law. WHARNCLIFEE supported the prayer of the petition, but was inaudible in the leittkry... RUSSIA AND TURKEY. ...... - V- • Marqui. of PLANRICARDE gave notice that on Thor:cloy next he would move as address to her Msjcsty, with rev/et to so o ffi cial document which bac • pub imbed in Europe, sod which appeared to him likely to exercise an im,xirtant infl.sonce on the aspect of politicol affAirs oa th • co.it.nent of Europe. rEitsosAL EXPLANATION OF TUE BISHOP OF RA LISBURY. The Bishop of SALISBURY row and said—l am cure, my lords, it is not necessary for me to ask of your lordships on the pet sent oc:as.oa that measure of indulgence which your lordships are always ready to extend to those who de sire to vindicate their personal character from imputations cast upon it in r.apect of their conduct in any public caps city—a desire which every member of your lordship' house may nvhtly feel, assumesi a character of even sacred duty , in one holding such an eifico as I have been called on to till, and who feels, if he be index' ..:posed to the charges brought ',alert him—that religion itself is 'rounded in his person, and shares in the dishonour which saathre to its minister. My lords, the charge which has ly:ea publicly brought against me, in • journal:of grvat circulation, is that of " selfish mad venation of funds dedicated to the highest purpose.," and of " receiving and retaining " a large sum of money sonic than that which was rightfully my due. I hope to be able to show your lordships that there is net any ground fir these charges. The right rev. prelate then enured Mt s • long argumentative statement, which he eumm-il u i i i the following terms. It has been my object to show—first, that the commissioners to my correspondence with whom th.w chcrges relate were a body of whom I was not one; t'sat they were principally leymen of high sleben, and that they were all persons with whom I had nut any special relations whatever of friendship or intito icy. Tnat for the dmisioa they came to they alarm were trespass bible ; whit: I, in • position of controversy with them, presented to them such arguments and ecnsiderationa as I was rightly entitled to do. That if the melt was different both from their expectations and my own, this is mainly to be ascribed to that improved management for which it was the object of the law to give occasion. I have proved this in respect of the copyltulcls by Mr. Caswall'e Istter. I have proved it in rmaect of the leaseholds by Mr. Botha ton's. I have asserted what, hail it been fiction, I could have proved, that I have not selfishly perverted from sacred purposes the fund, I not wrongfully but rightfully retained. I have admitted, nevertheless, that the law which made such imputations possible, was in itself Mu: ; and I have proved my sense of this by taking the earliest opportunity of placing myself under the Lew regulations in this respect.l At the age of 50 I have resigned voluntarily an income which has averaged to me for II years, 0,7371. a year, and which I could Washy and equitably have retained ; and have accepted is lieu thereof the fixed income of 5,0301., 'girlish the law has assigned to my successors. This, my lords, is my case. I thank you from my heart for the op portunity you have given me of stating it ; and I leave it, I hope not with presumption, but with the confidence of tenacious integrity, is your lordships' hands. (Loud cheers) The right rev. prelate cmcluded by moving fur a copy of his letter to the reclesie.tical commissioners. The Bishop of ST. ASAPH said the argum. nts of his right rev. friend were fuunded on the assumption that the Aw applicable to the case was bad, and that it was not its administration of which he complained. In his (the Bishop of St. Ampler) own came, for the first four years after en tering on his see he had been a swat sufferer. A large portion of his income had been takew away by the com missioners, and although he had tried to get it back, he bad sever been able to do so. (" Hear," and a laugh.) The motion was then agreed to. BIQUBSTRATION OF THE LIVING OF CAM. BERWELL. Lord BERBERS ;initiated a petition of which he had given notice from 3,560 householders of Camberwell, coma. plainieg of the evils they are suffering from the law of sequestration for debt, as applied to benefices, and praying a remedy far the same. lie stated that the living of Camberwell was formerly possessed by the Rev. J. B.ftm who contracted debts, as was shown when be sprawl before the Insolvent Court is 1831, assemating to 6 ARIL The tousequeucc had bee* that the liviag was smeesteated and was without an incum bent, the only spirited adaheratise being that of some sureties att•elitti to the flaccid districts, who received a very small stipend. Be stigmatised this as a very discredit- Mile state of things, and expremetra strong hope that some remedy would be applied to so crying an evil. The Archbishop of CANTERBURY said that the right _rev. prelate in whose diocese the parish in questim was situate had already that evening, with reference to this pe tition, tap:reed his opinion that it would be a great boon to the church sad the clergy if some remedy was applied to the end to which the Winos referred. That, however, could not be done without an 'stirs alterrion in the law relating to church property. Be hoped, however, that cases of this sort were merely exceptional. With regard to the parish in question it should be remembered that it was divided into ten distracts, each of which was provided with clergymen. fllll IRISH CONSTABULARY.-ILLICIT DM- TILLATION. Lord MONTRAOLL pennsat to rodeo, moved the ap pointment of a Meet esmoditee to amide: the conse quences of 'stealing the limedine d Mho insastabsltry is Ireland to thenppemelem or prevention et illicit distilla tion. He did not desire to throw any difficulty in the way of the collection t•f this revenue; but he believed the 'dole lien of the system proposed by the Chancellor of the Ex chequer would cause great mischief. The Earl of ABERDEEN was understood to say that be would net offer any objection to tho appointment of the committee on the ground that as there was a great variety of opinion on this subject, the appointment of a committee :nicht lead to the satisfactory settlement of the dispute. ThelEarl of DONOUGHMORE was glad that the noble earl consented to the appointment of a committee. The committee was then agreed to : name' to be gives at the wit meeting of the house. THESIRMIWBRIDOR AFFAIR. The Rid of CARDIGAN, pursuant to notice, put a question to her Majesty's government—vie. whether it was their intention to prosecute the two R oman catholic priests implicated in the riots at the last electiqn for Clare ? And at the same time he moved that there he laid before the house copies of the correspondence which lately took plies between the prime minister and certain Roman catholic gentlemen with reference to the resignation of their offices. The noble lord, in introducing the subject, stated that groat doubt existed in Ireland and is this country as to the intentions of the present government to protect protestantisen; and the course taken in regard to this matter might appease much painful doubt. He ye hued to the decision given by Judge Perrin on the Six saile-bridge affair ; end be called upon the government to take measures to define accurately the law under which the military acted when called out to the aid of the civil power, for if the law as laid down be by Judge Perrin was acted upon, the troops would inevitably placed on some future occa sion in a very palatal position. His opinion was that the popish priests in question ought to be prosecuted ; and that generally popish priests should be prevented wielding that undue influence which they possessed. The noble lord then adverted to Lord Aberdeen's letter to Mr. Monte!! : and he asked witetber the country was to understand from that letter that the true protestant principles expounded by Lora John Russell were not generally shared is by the cabinet. He thought that a neat blow had been Riven to protestantism by the Canada Clergy Reserve, Bill. In the course of his further very discon nected remarks, the cob!, Tort taunted Lord Aberdeen with his ineonastency is this matter, the Premier, when first interrogated as to the intentions of the government on the subject, having promised that the priests would he prose cuted ; and he thought that as a committee of the }loupe of Commons on the Clare election petition had emphatically pronounced against the conduct of the priest., there oug ht to be no longer any hesitation in prosecuting them. The E Irl of ABERDEEN said that as another election for Clare was on the eve of taking place, it was a point for the consideration of noble lords opposite how far their conduct en this motion would tend t i promote peace and good order—(oh, oh)—bst at any rate ko trusted that nothing would be said or dime of as inflammatory character, and it might be satisfactoey M assure their lordahips that every precaution had bees Mims by . the noble lord at the head of her Majesty's goosmiennat in Ireland to preserve good order. The ashes emi she bad just sat down appeared to suppose that these hod bees mom reluctance to declare the intentions of the ,__west oa the subject; but that wee a maapprehmekm The matter stood now jut where it was is Musk stns it was dieemerd in both houses, and whoa the Memo of the mmerameat had been fully expressed. The gemnemsot theM&elsred that it was not their inten tion to messed with the prosecution ; and that decision had not Weak the Meet degree effected by the report re fund is of the tommiltee et the House of Commons. With regaglito Ae eenemeotease which bad passed be , trwee• timed mod oft& members of the governmtat in the other Imam, be nut object to its production—not because be desired comembment, for that correspondence was already known to the noble earl and every member of thoirlordshipe house—but because it would tend to esta- Wish a most incsavesioat precedent to lay officially upon the table of the bowie pivots and unollici.l communica tions which might have taken place between him and other members of the government of which he had the honour to be the head. The Earl et Man comidered the AMY had oliodod to, the predestics ertr=l.lll4 been merely moved for as a matter of form, wet the most I extraordinary it had ever fallen to his lot to read. It was a most extraordinary thing to etc time inemhers of • government resigning tlleir otti.es on at•count e f leagues° I held by the bead of the government in one house of parlat me 01, and the head of the government in VI I other house repudiating and apologising for that langunge, and humbly but successfully entreating these gentlem , it to withdrew ! their resignations. (liter, hear.) This was not an mill ' nary, nor was it a creditable case. He rejoiced to And that the government had at length given their reasons far not prosecuting the two priests and the other rioters at the Clare election. The LORD CHANCELLOR said whatever might be the end of this chscussion, there were one or two results ! connected with it which could not be but satisfactory to himself and his colleagues. (Hear, hear.) For it would be recollected that the noble earl who introdueed the motion had entirely repudiated the motion which he made on a farmer occasion, charging tho Attorney-Genres , ' for Irc land with having so tae neglected his duty es to send up a bill to the grand jury for the purpose of raising the ones lion of the truth or falsehood of the prosecution preferred against the magistrate end soldiers. That was the paramount gist of the complaint on the hauler occasion. but now they had it admitted by tho noble e 'l who hr' just sat down, that the course which was then eomplai .ed of was the only course which the Attorney-Oeneral could have taken. The Earl of EGLINTON gill remained midi: the im pression that it was the bounden duty of the government to prosecute these rioters ; and he thought it would have been more satisfactory to Ireland if the determination of the late government in that respect had been carried out by their successors, (lieu, bear.) ' Lord CAMPBELL held the late Attorney• General in the highest esteem both u a lawyer and gentleman, but at the same tint.. he could not help thinking that the hon. anti teamed gentleman male n mistake in the view which he took of the ease of the soldiers. (Hear, hear.) It seemed to him that the late Attorney-General, believing that there was no evidence to support the finding of the coroner's in quisition, ought at once to bavo eat -end a nigle prosequi, when the soldiers would have been :et frze from toe charge and placed at liberty ; but, insteid of doing that. the At-' torney-General applied to the Court of Queen's Bench to quash the proceedings, which they had no power to do. The Earl of CLANCARTY felt obligcd to the noble earl for his motion. In the House of Commons another noble lord had stated that ke bad no confidence in the ehurelit Rome, but the noble earl opposite and others of him col leagues entertained a different opinion. If the preponder ance of the cabinet was in favour of the church of Rome would there have been a sufficient advocacy of the Queen's supremacy upon an attempt to impose the authority of the Pape upon the catholics in Ireland ? The Duke of NEWCASTLE said that the difference be tween the statement of the noble lord who had been re ferred to, in the other house, cad the noble earl was said to be that the noble lord had no confidence in the church of Rome, whilst it was stated that the noble earl at the head of the government had express:Al a contrary opinion. Now, without entering into the discussion of the question before the house, he mutt say that no such position was maintained by the one nor denied by the other. All that took place was this : Certain gentlemen took offence at some expressions of the noble lord in tho other house, of parliament in assigning particular reasons, smog gst others, for his objection to a motion then before the house; and his noble friend at the head of the government had stated to Blase gentlemen that he did not participate in all the reasons assigned by the noble lord in the other house. No question was raised of confidence, or no confidence in the church of Rome. Whatever might be the feeling in Ireland towards the present government, of this be was confident that there was a general impression that the law would be impartially and firmly maintained. (Hear, hear.) After a few words from Lord nEDESIDALI in support of the motion, The Earl of CARDIGAN briefly replied, and then with drew his motion. The house adjourned at a quarter past nine. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—FRIDAT, JUNE 24. The 8 took the cha;r at 12 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bill, were read a third time:—Forth and Clyde Jutted** Railway; Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland) ; London and North-Western Railway (Crewe to Shrewsbury); London and North-Western Rail way (Northampton, &c.) ; London and North-Western Railway Oldham branch) ; London and North-Western Railway (St. Albans, &c.); London and North-Western Railway ; Stourbridgi. &c.) ; Manchester, Sheffield, and Lineolnsh;re Railway (Barnsley) ; New Rete (Free) Bridge; Orford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway (Batta lion of time, &c.) ; St. Margaret and S.. John the Evangelist, Westminster, Vestries. The Warrington and &Branham Junction Railway Bill was postponed till Monday. WEXFORD JUNCTION RAILWAY DILL. Mr. GROGAN moved that the report on this bill be dice. charged, and that the bill be re-committed to the former cornmitte-. S nue discussion ensued, which ended in the motion being withdrawn. PUBLIC BUSINESS. LEASING POWERS (IRELAND) BILL. . The house went into committee upon this bill. On clause 10." Improvement Covenants," Mr. NAPIER sad that the object of this clause was to enable persons to take land on improving leases for a period of silty-one years. The tenant was to reclaim a tenth of the land within the Ant year, and one-tenth of the residue in .very three years, so that after the whole had been la proved he would have thirty-one years' use of the land. If, however, he made default the lessor might at once re enter and possess himself of the property, subject, however, to fiir compensation for what had been done. The effect of that clause would be to make the landlord pay the tenant for violating his own contract. The right hon. gentleman therefore moved the omission of the words in question. Mr. KIRK said the ii'mtse involved the very prin ciple of the bill. If the words to which the right hon. gentleman objected were removed, the whole a tenant had done, would, in the event of his death or insolvency, be taken by the hndlord. Mr. M'MAIION suggested an addition to the clause pro viding for the means of assessing the amount of compensa tion. That he thought would remove Mr. Napier's objec tion. Mr. NAPIER did not consider, however, that the hon. amtlentan's proposal at all met the case. Mr. V. SCULLY and Mr. CONOLLT suppor ted the clause. Yr. R 0 538 MOORE suggested the wads 'Exempt in case et wilful default." (Hear, hear.) Mr. MAGUIRE considered that the clause as it stood teal already more stringent in favour of the landlord than of the tenant. If the word' which had been excepted against were omitted the house would be sanctioning the grommet set of robbery. Mr. NAPIER would sot press his amendment now, Re trusted that his objection would he met at the bringin tip of the report. (Hear, hear.) Col. DIJNI4E suggested that there might be such a thing as collusion between the lector and: lessee to defraud the remainder man. He thought that Mr. R. Moore's sug gestion was absolutely necessary. He regretted to see that there were s) few Irish members premat, and that showed the inconvenience of taking these matters in such an apex way. (Laughter.) He probated against the viol- Cit i of the government. The clause., with some verbal alterations, were agreed to, with the exception of clause 35, which was postponed. The home then resumed. The CHAIRMAN then reported the bill as amended, ad the bill was ordered to be re-printed. LANDLORD AND TENANT (IRELAND) BILL. On the violinn for going into committee on this bill, I merely intended to have legislatiot postponed, and that a continuation bill for a year should le brought en. I Hr. T. B. MACAt LAY then rose, which WAS the signal' fur a general rush to Hats by hon. members who were %rending about the door. The rigbt Ism. gentleman, who a t ' first spoke in a low tone of voice, addressed the house nearly as follows :—I shell vote for the see - ad leading of ibis bill. The hon. member, a ho has just sat down, certainly cutlet plead that he Las not information suffmieet to enable him to •dge. He has made up his mind nu: only that the present ; I' is a bad one, but he has made up ho mind also even as to em most mkute details as to the policy which he would re , commend. The bill which we pass, bait whit it may, ought to he one large yet cautious step in a great progress. That which we have a 11-eht to ask of the government is sot a bill which shall leave whatever exists unchanged, not a bill which shall make such a reform that no other re '..se may hereafter be necessary, tut a bill that shall in- I 'see improvements end leavo us free to adopt other uments. The Lill proaosed by my right hon. friend ; ''oes this. One reason that leads me to look on this bill ore favourably than same other gentlemen fur whose evi -1 y and intentions I have the greeted respect is that the .rts of the bill which to them seem the most important aro • precisely those which to me seem the least important. Vs e Lava heard much about the changes which it is pea/seem ; should Le made ire the home government. That the r home government ought to bo constituted as per fect as possible, is perfectly true ; but I de con ' ceive that the rights which are in dispute touching the constitution of the home government am not by any means the most important rights which we hive to decide. T; e truth is that distance, as we all know, le3 on the mind as objects act on the eye. A very small object near you lo c ks large but at a distance it appears very small. India is a long way off, and the home government seems much more important to us than Indian plain. We all of us know something of the borne government. A nem must have led a very sceuled life indeed who has not heard of the C 411• vase for a directorship. He may not !maw or care what is the difference between the semindar or the ryotywar • syeteme—whether the inhjtets of the Nisi= be bomerlan or liindoo—whether the dominions of theOuicowar be in the east or west of India; but he is exceedingly in terested in the question who *hall be the person next in elected to the dction. Many gentlemen have been • obliged by the home government. Some may Lave been disobliged; but all watch its operations, and therefore the r proceedings of the home government excite much more feeling than the government of India nself; and I must say . the spirit in which the controversy on that subject has , been carried on really seems to me to lave been diepropor timed to the magnitude of the subject. Fur what, after ; all, are the objections to this government? When we ceme , to examine what has been said against it, when we come to L examine any gentleman's plan, it always turns out that he really does propose a plan which involves the principle of I double government just as much as ihe present one. No , !manna being would propose that the council should be altogether in India, no human being would propose that a dependency containing a larger population than the British islands should be under an autho rity altogether distinct from Oat which governs the rest of the British empire ; but on the other I band, you have fur India a minister who comes in and goer out with the other ministers, that is to say, he must • come in and go out on grounds whirl have nothing to do with the merits of his Indian edministration. In that sense the Board of Control first began to exist in 1781. Ide not believe that a single President of the Board of Control ever took his place on account of his interest in Indian subjects, and the minister for India boa gone out on the question of cattolic emancipation, or because he would not vote for the pain, and penalties on Queen Caroline. A late minister went out on the question of the militia, and t►e last President of the Board of Control went out on the lactation of the budget. They have all held office but a shut time. The average time during which the Minister for India has held his office baa been about two years and a half. Now, whoever considers what is the nature of 'lndia, the vast extent, the number of various subjects which fall under his attention, the small quantity of attention which those subjects generally receive from a public man whose pen liar duty it has not been to consider them before he entered on his office, it seems necessarily to follow that you must give to him some more permanent body which shall advise him, whichshall toe certain degree cheek him—that thing seems to be certainly allowed. No person denies the necessity of having such a council, but if you have such a council you have a double government. (Hear, hear.) It seems to me the idlest thing in the world to say it is double government if the crown ap. points the minister, and the proprietors appoint the council ; bat it is not double government if the crown appoints both the minister and the council Why, surely, lithe Governor-General holds by one autho: rity, and the council is appointed by another, that is doubl e government to all intents and purposes ; and if the Govern or has to shire the task of governing wit► the council then you have divided responsibility, whether the majority of the council be appointed by the government or the directors• It is utterly impossible that you can give to any minister a council of experienced men to advise sad restrain him—it is impossible you can give to a minister such a council without at the same time removing from that minister a certain degree of responsibility. (Hear, hear.) It is im possible also that you can give such • council withou t thereby causing considerably increased delay in transact ing the business of the department. These are the chief evils of a double government, and these are evils which you must prepare yourself to submit to under any circumstances. I like the plan of the govern - meat, because it seems to me to give • better council to assist the Governor-General than he had before, and I think it an advantage that it should be smeller in numbers, and also I like it because I think that on the whole it will contain a greater amount of ability than it has at present. I accept the bill, therefore, as an improvement, but it Is not particularly because I think it an improvement that I am anxious it should pass. I do not conceal from the house that the master principle in my mind is that the beet means should be taken fee governing India in India. One gentleman tells us that the Board of Control governs India: another says that it is not so, but that the directors have all the authority. Now, I conceive that it would be very inconsistent to say that either the Court of Directors or the Board of Control exercises the chief authority. (Hear, hear.) India is, and moat be always, governed in India. (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") That is • fundamental law which we did not make, and which we cannot alter, but which, being made, we should do our best to conform to, in our whole course of policy, for while so vast an expanse rif; - fi ts - 1 4 4 4T c ; ca k a of often rolls between London and Calcutta, India must be the Tenants' Compensation Bill at twelve o'clock on Then. governed in India, and there only ; and, in spit* of all the day next. improvements by which science shortens distance and The house went into committee, Mr. Greene is thechair. brings remota places together, despatches cannot Clauses 1 to 4 were agreed to without discussion, The CHAIRMAN then reported progress, and obtained be .read in Loans until six weeks after they leave to sit again on Mon lay next. hays been signed in Calcutta. (" Hear," and sheen.) The house rose at four o'clock, and adjourned until Suppose them to be answered on the very day they arrive six o'clock. six weeks more must elapse before the answer arrives at The house resumed its sitting at six o'clock. its destination. But no despatch is answered on the same CRIME AND OUTRAGE ACTS (IRELAND). day, it is early, indeed, when it is answered in the same Mon Oaday, the motion that the home at its rising do adjourn till month, for, with a double government, whatenr may to Mr. BUTT begged to call the attention of the house to its other merits or demerits, one of its evils unquestionably the state in which the law relative to the possession of arms is that a despatch must be seen by a great number of per in Inland would be placed by the expiration of the Crime sons, many must know what it contains, and must have and Outrage Act on the 30th of August; and to ask the an opportunity of making their suggestions, so that when Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it was the intention of ministers to bring in a bill upon the subject during the you consider these things—which must in evitablyen ter Present session. Ho beggol to remind hon. members that into your consideration, and when you add the dir in the year 1816 the noble lord opposite (Lord I. Russell) tenet, you cannot come to any other confabs had come down to the house and stated that the late Lord- than that when at last the despatch reaches Calcutta, it dose Lieutenant of Ireland (who, in passing, he would say, had governed Ireland most impartially) thought he should be te meet the state of things then existing, but a sta of not able to dispense with an arms act. Accordi n gly, the noble things which had existed six months before. (Hear, hear.) lord acted upon that view, but in the latter end of the year Now no country can be governed by instructions which the state of Ireland had become so (cannily disirganised in take six months in arriving. Let us take the experience of consequence, that the noble lord was obliged to obtain an oat own mono ,. wi a can a remem b er a July i n w hi c h act far more stringent than that with which be had die - . pensed. Hme (Mr. Butt) had no desire to see a similar state the king congrat ul a t ed par li am ent on the increasing pros of things again arise, and hence he had thought it his duty purity, and that before the following Christmas we were to bring this matter bet .re the house and the government. within twenty-four hours of a state of barter. (Hear, Lord PALMERSTON said that the matter to which the hear.) We also can remember an August when there hon. gent! , man referred was one of great importance, and had occupied, and still did occupy , t h e attent i on o f her *Hal" a p las P eat of universal and p rofound peace, Mejesty's ministers. All that he could say was that due and that in the next spring, from the Neva and notice would be given to the house of the course which her the Vistula to the Bay of Biscay,. there was Majesty'. government might think proper to pursue. nothing but war and insurrection. (Hear, hear.) Take THE INDIA BILL.—ADJOURNED DEBATE. theP t time. If we had instructions drawn out for The order for th e d ay for resuming the debate on the India Bill having been read, the direction of our foreign policy six months since, of what Mr. J. D. FITZGERALD presented a petition complain- great use would they be in the juncture in which we now ing, in a most elaborate manner, of the way in which the find ourselves? (Hear, hear.) It is therefore, I say, Roman catholic soldiers of India ware tented with re- utterly impossible that India can ever be properly governed speet to the maintenance of their priests. It prayed that except half the sum alloted for the established church, should in ,in India. The instructions that go then are very • evz•ry case be allowed for the support of the Roman catho- rare l y precise instructions, but rather general expositions lie clergy—the reason why . they only asked for halt being of the principles approved by the home authorities, whose that whereas protestant ministers had meetly wives and function is rather to judge of the past than to give positive children, they were " without those incumbrances." (A directions as to the future; and, even when the directions laugh.) r te the motion of the hon. gentleman,. the en from— are most positive, it is always liga tion wasrred to the committee on Indian territories. p plied that the local authorities are to re v ie w Mr. HUME (who bad moved the adjournment o f th e debate on the previous evening) then roes amid loud and circumstances as they exist when the instructions arrive, and grarcries for Mr. Macaulay. With respect to the' bill, to use their ow n disc re ti on . Th e w h o l e hi s t ory o f I n di a i s eol l idered that nothing could have a greater tendency full of cases of this kind, but even within my own ezperi to over then heads fora bi indefin it e than t pin e "'Oed n g ti P et' a p leeropo i statieft ence I think I can illustrate the pmpoaition in a cl ear an d n, as w- sed to Ito dose h y the measure. t a w k m) Aankt move satisfactory manner. During the time that I took a part in ler S h e um - Zh u ." , with the maaintaaging that it was the government of India, I can venture to ay that every impertaat measure taken by that government, every matter which history will hereafter mention, was adopted without any authority from England. Further, I believe that every one of those measures was regarded with disap ' probation at borne, and yet not ono of them was rescinded. Every one of them was allowed to stand, the language of the home authorities being gene rally, " You have done wrong, but what you have done is done, and we hope that no harm may r suit from it." That was the cars with the great reform made in 183.5 by Lord T wcedilale before his deperture in the matter of na tive education ; and another remarkable case was that of the transit duties. On that occasion a reprimand came I out—a severe reprimand—to the distinguished functionary I who bore a chief part in the abolition of the transit duties I but, nevertheless, they were abolished, and the individual did not sutler fur his firmness. It eau the same in the case of the act which established liberty of printing. Several reprimands cause out to the lezislative council, bat nevertheless the home authorities did not recommend us to rescind the law. A similar result happened with the re form of (we did not catch the name). A reprimand came out, but the new law was allowed to remain unaltered. Here are four great instances, all taken from a short period Minot more than a year and a quarter, which I think will serve to convince the house that the constitution of the gc terntucht of India is of much more importance to the people of that country then the constitution of the haute govern ment. (Hear, hear.) Without meaning in the least to diminish the importance of the functions of the home go , vernment, I should be inclined to say that the met t im- I portant of all functions are those of the Goveraorieieneral, and I should further - say, that even leen depends upon the character of the Governor-General than on the general cha racter and spirit of those services by which the administra ti..n of India is carried on. (Hear, hear.) The test by which I am inclined tojudge this bill is, what is likely to be its s if ct on the character and spirit of our Indian civil service ? Is it likely to raise or to lower the character of that distinguished body which furnishes India with judges and collectors ? For without meeting the slightest disrespect to the Court of Directors, I must say that, in my opinion, three or four, or even six, incompetent directors at the India House would cause far Ina evil to the people of India than a single incompetent director inn district where settlements are to be made between the government and the cultivator. Many gentlemen who now hear me are fully aware of the functions of a collector, but I have been surprised to find many who are generally leen in formed, strangely ignorant as to the power and importance of that officer. They seem to imagine that he is some thing like a commissioner of stamps and taxes in this country, while the truth is, that in many parts of India, he is the consul of a great province. (Hear, bear) The district subject to him is a principality of about the size of one of the tour provinces of Ireland, of Leiaster or Rem oter, and the population may probably consist of a million of human being*, and in all that district there is not a viii ige, there is not a single hut in which the difference between a good and a bad collector may not make a diffe rence to the whole population, between happiness and misery. (Hear, hear.) The difference between a good and a bad collector on the people of such a district is infinitely greater, thank God! than the difference between the very beat and the very worn government ever seen, or likely te be seen in England, could be to the people of this country. I have been assured by persons of good authority that you might read the cha racter of the collector in the eyes of the population in the appearance of their fields and in the state of their houses When you had a bad, incapable, or wrong-headed collector, you would see the people broken-hearted, ;and Lie country desolate. First the ornaments of the women went—those ornaments on which the peasant lays up his little wealth. Then oppression overcomes their proverbial fondness for their native village, and V:ey begin to emi grate in thousands. The smiling village is replaced by the wild jungle, and wild beasts lie down in what had been the houses of human beings. (Loud cheers.) But if he be succeeded by agood collector, prosperity soon returns, the jungle gives place to fruitful rice fields ; the tiger is chased back to the wilderness, and the population joyf u lly seek their old home" again. Such a power is scarcely exercised in any part of the world that I know of as is possessed by that class of public function ries over the people of India, and if we could make the best possible arrangement with regard to the home Revere ment we should be rendering very small service to those millions of human beings whom we are bound to protect as compared to the benefits we should confer on them by rais ing the average capacity of those who are to fill the civil service. (Hear, hear.) Some gentlemen, for whose ability I have • hirk respect, although I do not agree with their views on this subject, think that the best mode of improv ing the government of India would be to throw open the patronage alte gether. " Let the governor," they say, have a choice, and there will be no want of ability where there is freedom of choice." There is something cer tainly feasible in the theory that would allow the governor; to employ able men when :he can find them, but it is my firm opinion that the day upon which the civil service of India ceases to be • clue service will be the beginning of an age of jobbing the most monstrous, the most extensive, and the most per nicious that has ever been seen in the civilised world. (Hear, hear.) Should the change take place, every Go vetaor will carry out with him, or be soon followed by a crowd of brothers, nephews, cousins, the eons of political friends, and by political hangers-on. Every steamer coming from the Red Sea will bring a passenger bearing letters from some powerful man in England: all these people will press for employment, and among those persons the Governor-General will have the power of distributing residencies, seats of judges, places of four or five thousand a year, and this to men without the slightest knowledge of the character of the natives, and of their habits, and with no more of their language than enables him to :all for another bottle of pale ale. (Laughter.) One will be sent to Gwa lior, another to Mysore, to rule the whole of that great kingdom, which is not inferior to Scotland in extent, nor, I believe, in population, with absolute power. How are you to get a check for such a state of things ? Have you been so successful in checking jobbery at your own door— have you established such perfect purity at home, that you feel confident you can select proper functionaries for dis tricts the very names of which you cannot pronounce? (Cheers.) I believe mat firmly that this house, instead of preserving India from taint by the plan I have indi cated, would itself soon be tainted by its adoption. (Hear, hear.) I believe we should soon -se* the brother or ether relative of some active member of this house, carrying out a strong letter from the Prime Minister to the Gover nor General, and that that letter would be a bill of ex change on the revenues of India for value received in parliamentary support at home. (Cheers and laughter.) And that would be no new traffic, but only an old one re vived. We are not without experience, but, need only look back to those lameatable and shameful years which fol lowed the first establishment of our power in Bengal. If you look into any poet, essayist, or satirist of the time, you will see to what a monstrous extent this system was carried on. Looking the other day over a file of old news papers, with another object, I opened • paper of the year 1771, and the first paragraph that caught my eye was one stating that " Mr. So-and-So, who had gone out only three yeses before, had just landed with 40,00 W." (Laughter.) But it was not only that men went out and returned thus rapidly enriched, but fortunes were made in a still more extraordinary manner. Men took no office, but simply put the governor-general to ransom, levying a tax similar to what the Mabrattas called "chump," and oar own border robbers, called " black mail." Respecting this system, a tradition was in circulation when I resided in Calcutta, which was circumstantially told and generally believed. It was said that a man came to Lord Clive during hie second administration with • very strong letter from the minister in England. Lord Clive saw at once that the man was utterly unfit for office, and that he could do nothing bat harm if employed. Lord Clive,whose manner is also traditionally preserved, said, " Well, chap, how much do you want ?" The man, unaccustomed to such plain speaking, replied that ho only hoped for a situation in which his services might be useful to the Governor- General. "Answer me," repeated his lordship, "how much do you want—will 10,0001. do ?" The man, de lighted to hear of a sum greater than he hoped to ob tain by the most laborious service, was overjoyed, and Lord Clive at once wrote an order for a bus of rupees, saying, " Take that, and go back in the ship in which you came, for you can do us no good here." (Cheers and laughter.) Sach • proceeding may seem strange, but I think it sou very creditable to Lord Clive. In giving the money, he had of course to pillage the people of Bengal; but if he had given the man an ap pointment they would have been pillaged and misgoverned also. (Hear, hear.) Now against evils like this yott have only one security, and that is, that the civil service be kept close, the consequence of which will be that the Governor- General will have to choose his servants out of a certain set who are ready prepared to his hand. It is highly impro bable that any public man who goes out as Governor-General will have very intimate friends or relations, while it will fre quently happen that he has not a single sue, and the con sequence will be that the most unscrupulous Governor- General will dispense patronage better tinder the present system than the purest could do under a system which left his choice unfettered. Even the most unscrupulous Governor-General, when he finds that he cannot oblige his friends, relations, or political followers, will think that the best thing he can do will be to appoint men to do him credit, by making the public service go on successfully. (Hear, hear.) That excellent and invaluable man Lord William Bentinck said on leaving India—" I have now been here seven years ; in that time I have had the disposal of an immense mats of lucrative patronage, and I have never but once in all that time been able to do a single service to a single old English friend." There was a place in the magistracy at Calcutta, which was not strictly limited to the civil service, which his lordship gave to an old northern friend in distress, and that was the single instance he could recollect during his whole seven years of office. (Hear, hear.) What a security then is arch a system for the fair disposal of patronage, better security than even the virtue of such a man as Lard William Bentinck, although, surely, if ever man was to be trusted, he was. (Hear, hear.) Wo are agreed then upon this, that it is of the very highest im portance that the civil sevvice of India should be a moat capable service, and we are also agreed that it must be a close service. If that be the case, it follows necessa rily that we ought to watch with the utmost care the mode of admission to the serviee, and, if possible, take such measures as should make the service consist of picked men, superior men, taken from the flower of the youth of Eng land. Now, it is because in my opinion the bill before us does tend to produce that effect, that I feel earnestly defile . - OUP it should pus, and pus without delay. (Hear, hear.) My right hon. friend proposes that all pleas in the civil service shall be given by public competition among those young men who shall distinguish themselves in those studies which constitute a liberal British education. That plan was I think originally suggested by Lord Grenville, in a *perch which, although I do not agree in all its positions, I should recommend every gentlemen to read, far, I believe that since the death of Mr. Burke, nothing wiser or more re markable was said upon the subject. That speech was made in 1813, but nothing was done, and the subject delft until 1833, and then my lamented friend, Lord Glenelg, proposed in this house a plan, not exactly like the present, but still one that would have introduced the principle of competition. That plan was proposed twenty years ago. I remember speaking en it in a house most of whose members have since passed away, and my opinion has always remained the same. The bill was passed, but some difficulties were found in carrying it out, and by another act, of which we have reason to be ashamed, the patronage was turned back into its old course. It is now proposed again to introduce this principle of competition, and I do most earnestly entreat this house to give it a fair trial. (Hear, hear.) It gave me greet pleasure to know that the noble lord w' propoced the amendment, is favourable to the general principle of competition. I was glad, but I was not surprised, bacons* it was what was to be expected from a young man of kis ability, and recent academical experience. But I must say that join in the surprise expressed by my lion. friend the member fur Honiten, at the manner in which the plan has been spoken of by a noblemrei who has presided at the Dutra of Control, who has been Governor-General cf India, a man of very distinguished ability both as an orator and a statesmen. If I understand the opinions which have been imputed to the noble lord he ;thinks that the profi ciency of a young man in those pursuits which constitute a hheral education, is not only no indication that he is likely in future life to make a distinguished figure, but that it positively raises the presumption that he will in future life be passed by those whom he has passed in the educa tional conteet. If I understand the noble lord, his opinion is that a young man, distinguished in such pursuits, is likely to turn out a bore and a pedant, and a person unfit for the contests of artiste life. Indeed, I believe the noble lord goes further, and makes boxing and cricketing tests to be preferred to a liberal education in choosing men for active service. (" Hear," and a laugh.) It seems to me that there nee- r was a feet better proved by an immense mass of evidence, and by experience almost unvarying, than that the men who distinguish themselves in youth &bore their contem poraries in academical competition, do almost always keep to the end of their lives the start which they had obtained at the beginning. (Hear.) The experience is, in fact, so complete in the affirmative, that I should as soon expect to hear a person deny that arsenic was poison, or that brandy did not intoxicate, as to dispute the position. Take the simplest test, one which we can apply at once. In our library you have the university lists., Look at the honours fore hundred yeses back, look at the senior optimes and wranglers, and I will venture to say that for one senisn (vitae, distinguished in future life, you will find twenty wranglers. (Hear, hear.) Take the Oxford calendar, look at the first class men, and compare them with an equal number of third class men, and see who obtains the sue. ma in future life. (Hear, hear.) But our whole history is full of such instances, since the be ginning of parliamentary government. From Mon tague and St. John to Canning and Peel—and I need not stop there to Lord Derby and my right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and has it not always been the case that men who bad been tint in the competition at school, nand first in the competition of future life. (Heor, hear.) Look at the first men in India itself. Wes not Warren Hastings the first man at Westminster, and Mel calla the ablest civil servant in India the first at Eten ? The most briliiant and remarkable man at Eton, the beat man the aristocracy sent to India, Lord Wellesley, was slew most distinguished at Oxford. (Hear, hear.) I must men tion—l can't refrain from mentioning—another Governor- General, another distinguished nobleman, who, a few days ago, made the speech to which I have been alluding. I read lately in the " Music+ Cantabrigiensis " a very elegant classical ode to which was awarded the gold medal, and which was recited in the senate house. The subject was the departure of the house of Braganca from Portugal, and the young poet of 17 described in Horatian language the departure of the last deszendants of an ancient line, and the spirit of the national poet Camoens hovering over the armamant that conveyed them to a new hemisphere. Need I dd how much my pleasure was enhanced when on running down the page I saw at the bottom the name of the Hon. Edward Law, St. John's College. (Cheers and laughter.) I mast confess that my pleasure was consider able when I sass that the name of Lord Ellenborough might be added to the long list of those distinguished names whose early youth shadowed forth the distinguished part they were afterwards to play in public life. And I really cannot but feel some concern and surprise that a nobleman who had been distinguished in his youth by attention to such studies, should in his mature years have descended to use language respecting them which would better here be come Ensign Nett/tenon, or the officer in Swift's " Hamil ton's Hawn"— Tour Novids and Plutarch& and Omen and stuff, By George ! they don't signify this pinch of snuff. To glre• young gentleman rtgot education The army a the only good school In the nation. And for the boxing— Sly schoolmaster called me a dut cc and a fool. But at cuffs I was always the cook of the school. (Loud laughter.) But if the recollection of his own academical triumphs did not restrain the noble lord from using such language, he should have remembered that among names of academical distinction woo that of that strong-minded magistrate the late Lord Ellenborougb. But the same coincideuce is borne out by all history Beginning with Lord Mansfield, proceeding to Lord Stowell, Lord Eldon, Sir Vicar y Gibbs, and coming down to the late Lord Chief Justice Tyndal and Lcrd Lyndhurst, we find that both at equity and common law academical distinction has been the forerunner of forensic success. All these men were senior wranglers. Baron Alderson was a senior wrangler; so was Justice Meek- and Baron Parke, a man most eminently distinguished at the university both in classics and mathematics. Vice-Chancellor Parker was a wrangler, and Mr. Justice Coleridge, one of the taost eminent men at Oxford. Mr. Justice Erie was a high wrangler, so were the three Vice-Chasteners ; and the late Sir James Parke, my valuable and lamented friend, was a distinguished wrangler. Can we believe that all this has been the result of accident? (Heir, hear.) Can we do other than believe that these men kept through the life with which they began it. (Hear, hear.) And it is no answer to this that we can point to two or throe men, of great energy, who having Ineglected their studies when young, subsequently retrieved hut time, and passed those who had been before them. Of course such exceptions are most desirable, and should serve as an example to others, who having thrown away their yonthia a life of pleasure, are inclined to throw away their man hood also in despair. But the g I rule is this, that those men who have distinguished themsel ves in cademical competition when young are tits, men who in after life distinguish themselves in the competition of the actual world. (Hear, bear.) Well, if this be so, I cannot see the equity in refusing to India the advantage of this test. Some gentlemen may say that, after all, this test ex tends only to intellectual cultivation, and character is as important as intellectual power. I most readily admit that it is as important, but unfortunately you have not quite so certain a test of character an to morals as you have to intellectual qualifications. But surely if you require that a man should possess two qualifications, and that you have not a decisive test for bath, your plan is to use all the teats you have and leave as little as you can to chance. This argument would seem to be unanswerable, unless some persons should say that the circumstance of men being superior in acade mical acquisitions raised the presumption that they were inferior in good sense and rectitude. But if that could be shown, the consequence would go further than the throw ing out of this bill. It would go to the re-consi (tendon of our whole system of education, end teach us that we should take away our boys 'from studies which have a deleterious effect upon their character. There is one point more—but I am afraid I am troubling the house at too great length—(loud cheers) — there is one point more on which I am desirous of saying a few words. Some very able judicial men who are as strongly of opinion as myself as to the impor tance of an intellectual test for admission into the Indian service, are yet of opinion that this would be best managed, not by competi tion, but by having examinations of a high standard, and rejecting those who failed. Now, all my experience end observation lead me to believe that this is a complete mis take, and that the effect of competition is to keep up the standard. In competition, every man struggles to do his hest, and the consequence is, that without effort on the part of the examiners the standard keeps itself up. The moment you ask the examiner, not shall A or B succeed, but is A alone competent, the question becomes different. The examiner is unwilling to blast the prospects of a young man, and often stains a point to let him in. That is the case even suppcsing that the dispensers of patronage are left to the dictation of their own minds, but that will not be so. You will have solicitations of such a sort that it will be impossible to re sist. I speak of what I know and of what I have seen, in more than one public office. When a minister is under the painful necessity of pronouncing a young man ' unfit for the public service, the young man declares that he will exert himself, that he will make himself fit, and that if tried he will leave nothing undone. The father comes with team in his eyes, the mother writes the most pathetic letters, and in short I have seen public men completely overcome, or at least painfully ember reseed, in a case of this kind. With a system of competi tion, nothing of that kind can occur. Nobody has the face to say, " Your son bas beat my boy ; but you must say that my boy is best." (Hear, hear.) Thus the system of competition keepo the standard high, while the other which I have mentioned has a tendency to lower it. I hope it will not be supposed that, in anything I have said, I intend in the smallest degree to reflect on the present civil service in India. Some of the dearest and most valued friends I have in the world belong to that service ; and for the general spirit and character of that service I feel the greatest respect. (Hear, hear.) I thick it wonderful that a body of men, not picked, not chosen for merit, taken merely at random, because one is the son of a director, be cause another is the nephew of a director, because another is related to a person who had been of great use to a Presi dent of the Board of Control at an election great laughter)—l think it wonderful that men, selected avow edly on the ground of favour, should have conducted them selves as they have, in such difficulties, and amidst such temptations, with so much perseverance and uprightness. (Hear, hear.) It is a glory to our country that 800 of the gentlemen of England, chosen thus at random, should have conducted themselves in this way, and should have displayed such probity. (Cheers.) But that is no reason for not making the service better if we can ' • and it is Impossible to deny that we have clear proof that the service Is not quite in a satisfactory state. (Hear, hear.) In such a body of men you must necessarily ba t ,. a number of inferior men ; and there will be a certain, a n ,. ber possessing superior powers ; but the great n.ajoriti w in be not very much above, nor very much below, the av standard of ability. But in a body el SOO men, nut seltideg by some test of ability, there will certainly be • considera ble number—say one-tenth or one-twentieth —who fall de cidedly blow the average. That is a proportion whiebyoa can do with very well here in this country ; pu t d o not want all superior men at the Boerd of Trade or the Trea. sury ; there is plenty of routine business to Ms done, which a man of small ability may transact as well as Mr, pa himself could have done. But the case is different is the ladian service. There you have SOO men ch age,' with the happiness of 100 millions of their fellow eu'jects. And there is not a single one of those upon whose eonsloet the lop. pinoss of a great number of individ u al s may not depend (Hear, hear.) It is impossible , to have one-ten:l t or ace twentieth part of those ince:sob:o men without leading t o the sufferings of millions. (Hear, hear.) And lire is the most defective point of our system. I quite agree with the noble lord who moved the aiasiidment that the week point is :he state of the system. (Ifs or, hear) All the evidence leads to that conclusion. But p.rmit me to say this cs no novelty—nothing unexpected ; for it was distwaly dieted before the hill of 1832 passed. It ware *aid as fiat time by a very able man—. You are opening the China trade ; this will, in one sense, inflict a great evil on the people of India, unlsss you alter the mode in which justice is administered. There always will be ineopsiae msn is the service: at present they settle to trail?, and y-ti have the able men left tar the judicial and political bulimic llf you abolish the trade, you will still hay., the same :a. . capacity in the service ; but there will be no longer the commercial offices to till, and you must send theca to ; the judicial department." And this prophecy has bees strictly fulfilled—to the judiciol department they have goue. The evidence before us leaves no doubt—old:ell/A there are many able Lien in the judicial department—that it is generally to that department that men derki. tit inability and information are %eat. (Hear, hear.) And I do not blame those who have taken tide course; far, *ring as it would sound in the ear of an Englishman to soy that the collection of taxes wits a more important thir.g thou the ad , iniuistration of justice, yet, practically, 1 do believe flat the happiness of the people of India depends more on the ability and probity of a collector of taxes than it does cu that of a judge. What is the remedy for On, r Surely not to strengthen the judicial deportment from this country.... not to pour out upon India, ns has been proposed, som e I scores of barristers from the back benches of the I courts at Westminster. (Cheers and laughter.) The reel remedy is to raise the character of the ace . nice, and to take such int ..sures that it may be in the highest degrse improbable that any me n who are really incapable, who are below par, sht,uld had their way into the Service at all. (Cheers ) I believe the I plan proposed by my right hon. friend will accomplish that end : and it is on that ground chiefly that I give it try most sincere and caer , ial support. O ne word mere. (Hear, hoar.) It seems to me thst this plan will eff rd the very best means that can be imagined for effecting an ob ject of which much has been said, which I have frequently desired—l mean the admission of the natives of India to a share in the higher orders of the civil service. (Cheers.) Legally they are eligildc to: ti offices; practically none have been admitted. (Hear, hear.) It is my belief that there is not at the present moment in India one individual whom it would have been a kindness to the active popula tion to place in the civil service. (Hear, hear,) I can con ceive nothing more th th iporet to the people of Indto than to put natives, properly quelitied, into the civil service ; hat what becomes of the advantage, if the native, be cause he is a native, is to be looked down upon by all his European colleagues? (Hew, hear) But of all things I can conceive nothing more injudicious than wl-at is suggested by the hon. member fur Montrose, that before we have admitted any natives t o the civil 'set vice at all, before a native has acted even as an assistant collector or an assistant-judge, we should take some native and make him a member ti the council. (Hear ' hear) Under the system now proposed by the government, it will depend on the natives themselves, and on them alone, at what time they shall enter into the civil service. As seen as any young native ef tlieinguished parts shall, by the cultivation of English literature, have enabled himself to become victorious in the competition with European can didates, he will then, in the most honourable manner, a; a matter et right, and not as an eleemosynary donation. ob tain access to the civil service. (Cheers.) Then it will be impossible for his European fellows to look down upon him ; he will enter on the service on equal terms with them, in the best and most honourable manner ; and is this way, and this way alone, can the Objet bo attained in a manner perfectly satisfactory. (Hear, hear) A treble lord in another place (Lord Ellenborough) has expressed the opinion that by encouraging the natives to the study of the arts and the literature of Europe we are preparing the way for the utter destruction of our rule in India. This is rather a singular inconsistency. How is it that the noble lord should think so slightly of classical edu cation when given to Europeans, and should anticipate such different effects from it when given to Hindooa ?re says that classical education given to an Englishman makes him a twaddler, and unfit for active life ; hut give it to the Ilin doom, and such is its stimulating effect that the power of Great Britain in that country, backed by an army of 200,000 men, will crumble into dust before their rising energies. (Hear, hear.) I really cannot explain how it ia that knowledge, which is power in one race, should be absolute impotence in another. I can only say for myself, that I entirely concur in the opinion that we ought not to seek to secure or prolong our dominion by attempting to exclude the natives of that country from a share in its government, or by attempting to discourage them from entering into competition with Europeans for the prizes of literature and knowledge. (Hear, hear.) And I never will consent to keep them ignorant in order to keep them manageable, or to govern them •in ignorance in order to govern them long. (Loud cheers ) Mr. BLACKETT declared himself opposed to a double government as a despotism without its pow, r and energy, arid as having all the feohleness and vacillation of the repre- sentative sysiem, without the redeeming spirit of popular government. The changes proposed in this obnoxious system were ineffective, for one reason, among others, that they imposed no check upon the Based of Control, and did not provide for the position of India being brought periodi cally before parliament. Lord JOCELYN supported the second reading of the bill, because he was in favour of immediate legislation. He hoped, however, that its objectionable qualities would be remedied in committee. Mr. OTWAY supported the amendment, on the ground that the claims of India had not been 6ufficienly invest!. gated, and that the bill wav altogether inefficient to meet the evils already ascertained, which he described in vigorous and Indignant terms. Mr. ADDERLEY maintained that no real argument in favour of the bill had been urged, either in or out of the house. With regard to the amendment to which he gave his support, he suggested that some words might be added with advantage, by which a continuance bill might be in cluded in its objects. Mr. It. D. MANGLES defended the Indian govern ment at great length. Mr. F. VILLIERS moved the adjournment of the debate. Lsrd .1. RUSSELL would not offer any objection to the motion for the adjournment, but hoped the debate would close on Monday ni,cht. (Hear.) Mr. BRIGHT did not see how they could bring the discussion to a close on Monday, though he should be glad if they could do so. He reminded the noble lord that go vernment were themselves responsible for forcing en the discussion at a period when the pressure of other business made it inconvenient. The motion for adjourning the debate to Monday was then agreed to. RESIDENT,MAGISTRATES (IRELAND) BILL. This bill passed through committee. PIMLICO IMPROVEMENT BILL. This bill also passed through committee. EVIDENCE AMENDMENT BILL. This bill was read a second time. SOAP DUTIES BILL. This bill was read a third time and passed. PARISI! VESTRIES BILL (No. 2.) The bill passed through committee. The house having resumed, the bill was ordered to bo reported on Monday. COMMON LODGING•HOUSES BILL. This bill also passed through committee, and was ordered to be reported on Monday. ASSISTANT-JUDGE (MIDDLESEX SESSION.) The house then went into committee, and a resolution on which to found a bill was agreed to. The house then resumed. TYNEMOUTH WRIT. _ ....... Sir B. HALL moved the further auepansion of the writ for the borough of Tynemeuth till Monaay the 4th d..y of July next. Agreed to. NEW WRIT. On the motion of Sir G. BERIELEV a new writ was ordered for the borough of Tralee, in the room of Mr. M. O'Connell, deceased. The house then adjourned at a quarter-put one o'clock. THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 25. '853. ELEC rros OF SHERIFFS. Yesterday a Common Hail of the livery of London was held in the Guildhall, for the purpose of nominating and electing two lit and proper persons to serve the office of Sheriffs of London and fi!.i riff of Middlesex. The Lord Mayor, attended by a large body of aldermen and civic authorities, entered the hall and took the chair a' 20 minutes after one o'clock. The Recorder then briefly opened the proceedings. The Common Serjeant announced the names of several persons in rotation to serve the office of sheriff. Mr. Deputy Peacock came for ward and asked that Mr. Turnley should be excised from serving during the present year. (Cries of "No, no.") The name of Alderman Wire u the next alderman to servo the office being read, it was received with loud cries of " no, no." The names of Mr. Norris, Mr. Tuniley, and Mr. Shepperson having been put to the hall, the shsw of hands for the two latter gentlemen was almost universal. The sheriff (Mr. Alderman Carter) then declared Mr. Turn ley and Mr. Shepperson duly elected to serve the office of sheriffs. Sir John Key having been re-elected Chamberla in, addressed the livery, :haokiug them for the support he had received. The usual officers of the corporation were then elected, and the proceedings terminated. SAMBRE AND MET:SE RAlLWAT.—Traffic for the week ending June 19, 18i3, 509/. 10s. 9d. Corresponding week lad year, 216 i. 16.. Bd.