The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

124 Vrottebings in Varliament. Mr. Puhaamoite reopened the debate on the government of India on Monday, by an elaborate dissection of the various arguments and statements hazarded by Sir C. Wood when introducing the new Ministerial scheme on the previous Friday. Tra versing ut all points the vast field embraced in that speech, but dwelling especially upon the system of law and property as now existing in India, he utterly scouted the assertion that English rule had produced any benefits to that unhappy country. For the abuses in the administration of justice he pro nouneed the only remedy to be the appointment of native judges ; and, in reply to the excuse that the • native tune of morality was too low, pointed to the flagrant sins tuel tearful demoralisation exhibited in many European courts and countries during the past century, as showing a so-called civilised and Christian standard in no degree more exalted than that of the Hindoos. Respecting property and the laws of land, he declared that the East India Com sany had assumed more than the due rights of pro prietors, but had omitted all their duties : " Bengal, once so prosperous, and where life and pro perty were so secure, mid of which KO beautiful a demerit). Mai was given by HolWell, was now one dead level of uni form misery. The pnalucers, cultivators, and consumers of the richest country in the world laid, under the conduct of those whom it was 110 W sought to invest with renewed powers, sunk to the level of the deepest wretchedness, and there was not a mingle opulent proprietor to he net with in the district. (" Hear, hear," and " Oh, uh.") The result of the system of ryotwar adopted in Madras, where one European collector had to settle the bargains of 300,000 ruttier tenants, was, that upon the face of the civilised world there did not now exist a specimen Of more coin. plow 'degradation than the Madras ryot. In spite of all these examples, the directors of the East India Company, in spite of the renninstranceis of Lord Elphinstone, insisted upon transferring the same principle which had ruined Bengal to Bombay ; until, at length, the misery which it predimed hail compelled them to retnice their swim." Remarking upon the absurdity of the doctrine that, bemuse our 'lndian empire was an anomaly, there fore its government must be anomalous, the lion. member denounced the present attempt to keep up a sham system of administration, with its irresponsible power and frequent opportunities for clandestine arrangements, and called upon the Ministry to halt in their infatuated course, and withdraw the bill which they were trying to introduce. Sir J. W. Hotl, as the avowed champion of the Company, rose to rebut the frightful biU of indictment which had been preferred against them. He observed that the assailants of the India directors had cleverly divided their labours ; Mr. Bright taking commerce and finance, while Mr. l'hillimoro expended his strength upon law and declamation. Ile rentarked, too, upon the heterogeneous, if not exparte, c haracter of the evidence upon which the charges were founded. Snipping* out of blue-books, newspaper reports, evi dence given years ago before committees, party speeches made anywhere by anybody, were all laid under contribution, and the statements therein dis covered reproduced as valid testimony in the face of far more authentic evidence to be found elsewhere, and of a perfectly contradictory tenor. Assuming, therefore, that party spirit anti malignity had said their worst, Sir J. Hogg proceeded to examine, clause by clause, the articles of impeachment of which his company was the object. it was said that India was a " sealed book." So far from that tieing correct, "there was not a single law or by-law which had not lwen laid on the table of the (louse; not a rupee hail been received or expended during the last twenty years which bad 1101 been accounted for, and the particulars laid upon tile table, as regularly us the finances of this country. 'l'here had not been a single public tintisaetion in India the ismiettlimi respecting which had not. been laid before tho leinse. Con iiii ittees of that hollst. hind Mit, upon the salt duties, cotton, steam, and almost every subject Con- ' eected with India; and it' the bowie wished to know the aggregate ot' the information relating to India, contained in the parliamentary papers, he would inform them that they tilled u pw a rds of tiny-three large folio volumes. ( tough/cr.) If the details 14 l u di un pivermitent Avery not I,noun,the fault was certainly not the wait of 11111Wrilli but 11 . t h e in &vary and upplieathal of the se to avail them selves of the Information placed within their own reach." They had been reeommended, with many plausible reasons, to delay legislating for the present:— " He conacientiously said that delay would tend to di., turb the peeve of the country, and to arrest the progress of of reform. It would also, he believed, if Ha destroy, at least lessee that slmost superstitious l'oll. fidence in our power.whieh now happily prevailed through. out India. lie lutist warn the house that delay would iuduce feelings of apprehension as to the future. and would fume into mi%chievotts acti% its' the worst excitements that could agitate India. ( /fear. The system of double government had been attacked by Mr. Blight, who hunt quoted Mr. Kaye and Mr. Tucker for his nude titles, and called that system a "sham." Now. both Kaye and Tucker were the strongest advocates for the double government ; anti THE PRESS. as for itS being a " sham," or, as others alleged, that the Court of Directors had neither power nor responsibility, "he ►stated boldly and broadly that under the existing system the practical government of India rested with the Crown and the Court of Directors. Every measure origin. ated with them. Every measure was discussed by them, coming before t►tree several committees, and undergoing careful consideration and investigation at each. 'Prue, the President of the Board of Control had the power to alter it, but if he did so the Court of Directors could call upon him to assign► his reasons in writing for so doing, and when in this free country a man had to do that he would not at. tempt a change unless he could support it fairly before the house and the public. The fact was, that, of all the t en t. dpatches which passed before thesesth directors, not five per were ever even touched by oard of Control. The dutiess of the secret committee were limited to the questions of peace and war and treaties of commerce. Parliament Lad felt that it was ►unwise to trust such matters to the wisdom of twenty gentlemen, more especially as iu them great despatch and great secrecy were required. Ile be lieved that the House of Commons would say that the great benefit of the double government was to keep India free from all political bias, and would admit that the double government was the only government by which they could accomplish that great and paramount influence which such freedom front bias gave." In reference to the alleged nepotism of the Board, and its abuse of patronage : " The answer was Lord Ellenborough's. Lord Ellen borough had stated that it had been generally diffused. lint more than this, he held in his hand a return laid before the house of their military patronage, whence it appeared that nearly one-third of their whole military patronage went to the sons of their civil or military servants. (Hear, hear.) Of 668 appointments since 1333, 159 were appoint ments of directors' sons, grandsons, nephews, or relations; 200 were given to sons of the Company's servants; 269 generally and indifferently among other members of society. Now, he would ask, if these documents did not bear out his statement, that the patronage had been fairly dis tributed?" (Hear, hear.) Respecting the alleged enormous emoluments at tached to the civil service : " He would state the amount of emolument received by the civil servants, commencing at five years' service, and going up to twenty. The average payment under five years was 470/. ; above five years, and not exceeding ten, it was 911/.; exceeding ten years, and not exceeding fifteen, it was 1,5351.; above fifteen years the amount was 2,5451. Considering the education, the expenses, the absence from their native country, and the ability and integrity with which the civil servants of the Company had unifoisnly discharged their duties, he believed those emoluments to be inferior to the eorreaponding emoluments of cor responding situations in this cianitry." (Hear.) Adverting to the statistical accusations laid against the Company with reference to their revenues, their territorial annexation, and the heavy taxes they were said to have laid upon their subjects, the hon. baronet entered into various calculations, showing, as he alleged, the true aspect of the case : "Since Isi33 there had been an accession of territory amounting to 167,013 square miles, with a population of P 4,512,1130. Now, in 1634 the gross revenue of India was 1N,699,6771. In 1651 the gross revenue was 27,625,360/., showing an increase of nearly 9,i KS P,OlO/. (Hear, hear.) The find question was, how much of that increase arose from the new territory? It was less than 2,000,011 M, and there would then remain 7,000,0001. to be accounted for. And yet, so far from new taxes having been imposed. many had been entirely abrogated, and a great many reduced. (Hear. hear.) 'rite export duty had been taken from cotton and coffee, and other materials. The transit duties, amounting to a large sum, had been abolished. The salt tax had been reduced 25 per cent. So that, while there had been this great increase of income, there had been simul taneously a decrease of taxation, (Hear, hear.) It was said that land was going out of cultivation—that it was all going to jungle. Let the house look at facts and figures. In the province of Bengal and the north-west provinces, in 1633.4, the land yielded a revenue of 9,115,4111. In 1851 the amount raised was 12,075,4761., showing an increase of revenue from the same territory of 2,960,0671. (Hear, hear.) The increase front opium was 2,305,601/. ; from salt, K 5.3751.; from customs, 100,4281. ; making together 5,357,4741., leaving as the increase of revenue derived from other sources 1,412,5261. to make up the 7,003,000/. The exports from India in 1534.5 amounted to 6,154,129/. In 1549-50 t hey amounted to 13.696,696/. (Hear, hear.) And yet that was the misruled, misgovern's! country. ( Hear, hear.) Now, what were our exports to India during those periods? In 1t434.5 they amounted to 8,1 5e,161/. ; iu 1849.50 they were 18:483,:')40i. He would ask, had this been the effort of India herself, aided by the tioveniment of Balla, or had the liovernment of England and the House of Commons rendered them any assistants.? He would tell the house that the Court of liwprietors—that calumniated body— hail. year after year, been petitioning Parliament to do justice to India, and to take away discriminating duties. But they had petitioned in vain ; and, when the goods of this estuary were admitted into India at 5 per cent., Indian goods were not admitted here under la per cent. ( Hear, hear.) In the year Iso6, during the monopoly of that calumniated be of which he had the honour to 1* a member. the exports of cotton from India amounted to 1,400,000/. ; anal in lstl 1, the duty then being tr2k per cent.. there were imported into Brest Britsin from India 967.052 pieces of calico and muslin. besides vast quantities of silk and tafthta. If India had prospered, what had been the ease of England? In 1614 the 11.itish cotton manufactures expensed to the East Indies annotated to 109.46; 1. In Isl 9-50 the ' , spirts had increased to 4,421,9•20/. Had the SATURDAY, hon. member for Manchester any reason to complain of that increase ? (Hear, hear.) Had the shipowners any reason to complain ? In 1934.5 the number of British vessels employed in that trade was 220, with a tonnage of 1011,870. In 184940 the number of vessels had increased to 429, and the tonnage to '252,153. He should like any lion. member to point out any other part of the world with respect to which there had been a similar increase. (Hear, hear.)" Respecting the revenue of India, with its alleged deficiency, increasing debt, and impending bank. runty : " The estimate for 1833-51 certainly showed a deficiency. But what had been the result? A surplus of nearly halt' a million. That showed that the commissioners had made no undue estimate. What was the sketched estimate fin. Itss•/-3? The honourable member for Manchester was correct in the amount he had given of the revenue of the country. The gross revenue was 29;428,192/. The charges amounted to t1et,317.:e2(9.. showing a surplus of 2,910,7261. (Hear, hear.) India did pay, and always had paid, a heavy tribute to this country, but after allowing for that tribute the estimated surplus for the current year was nearly half a million, including the estimate for the Bur- mese war. Mr. Phillimore had said he would show the house how India had been misgoverned by stating the amount ot' the debt in 1825; also its amount five yeats later, and again five years after that ; and he concluded with an extravagant statement about the bankruptcy of the East India Company. He. (Sir James Hogg) certainly did not know what might be the honourable and learned gentleman's idea of bankruptcy, but it was clear it was a very curious and whimsical one. (Hear, hear.) The revenue had increased. notwithstanding all the wars, in a greater ratio than the debt ; and the proportion of the debt to the revenue was less now than it was at any period. The present revenue was :29,000,0001. In 1831 the tota l debt was 34086,0001., while in IMO the debt was 1)0,000,0001., showing an increase, in twenty years, of between fifteen and sixteen millions. Thus, whilst the debt had been increased, the concurrent increase of reve nue had been infinitely greater in proportion, so that the increase of the debt was perfectly immaterial. But what was the amount of the debt in 1839, after some years of peace ? Only 31,500,0001. ; and the increase from 1839 to the present time was 18,812,0001. He mentioned the increase from 1831 to the present period in order to show what India could do in time of peace, and what India suf. fered in time of war." After alluding to the salt tax, the opium trade, the general system of taxation, and the slight progress effecting in cotton cultivation for the English market, on all which points Sir J. W. Hogg vindicated the Company front the charges of having committed errors of commission or of negligence, he proceeded to advert to the social results of their rule over India. Education, he declared, had progressed, though much still remained to do. There were in Bengal, English and mixed schools, 37, vernacular, 140; North-West ern Provinces, 7, English and mixed; English and mixed, in Madras 1 ; in Bombay, English and mixed, 14, vernacular, 233 ; the number of scholars, 20,000 ; and the sum expended, 00,0002. (Hear, hear.) He admitted that 00,000/. was a small sum, and that a great deal more ought to have been expended, and a great deal more in time would be expended ; but he asked the house to consider how slow the progress of moral and social improvement had been in this country, where there had been no obstacles in the way—how slow had been all improvements in gaols and prisons, and in the administration of justice. (Hear.) Of public works : " One would suppose, from the language which had been held on this subject, that there were scarcely any public works in India, and that hardly any public money was expended on them. He had before him the names of several roads, one of which was 1,423 miles in length, and had cost 1,000/. per mile, and the general summary of his statistics showed a total of :3,159 miles of public road, of which the estimated cost had been 2,160.0001., and the cost of repair per year was 90,00''1. With regard to canals, there was one of 580 miles in length ; there was also the. Ganges Canal, 510 miles long, which had cost upwards of 1,500,0001. At Madras there were works of irrigation. on the only three rivers on which such works could be con structed—the Godavery, the Cavery, and the Kislina. ( Hear, Lear.)" Upon the assertion that the judicial system was made a monopoly, and the natives never admitted to place or function He entertained no apprehension of the result of any candid inquiry. How much, he would ask, of the justice of India had been administered for some years past liy the natives? In the first instance, ninety-nine per cent. Now, was it not astounding utter that to hear that the Court of Directors had not honestly carried out the act of 1884 as regarded the advancement of natives, when in that year there was scarcely a native employed in the ad ministration of justice except in the most subordinate situations, and with the most limited jurisdiction, and now ninety-nine per cent. was in the hands of natives, or, in cluding cases of appeal, ninety-six per cent? The natives were also exclusively employed at high salaries as deputy collectors and deputy inagisu - ates. Lastly, he referred to the question of religion and the ecclesiastical establishments "In 1884 there were 01 churches ; in 1852, 115; in 1:•;94 the Chnrch establishment cost ; the Scotch Church, 0,233/. : the Homan Catholic, 1,11091. ; making an aggregate of 89,8061. In 18)2 the cost of the Church establishment had increased to 107,000/. awl odd. the I