The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-02 00:00:00

198 Mr. DIGBY Szymoua avowed himself a champion of " young India," and dilated on the bitter fruits that had resulted from the past system of govern ment in that country. Our rule had ended in stag nation and pauperism, our wars had made us mas ters of a hostile and unforgiving race, our annex ations had loaded us with debt, and our extravagance had undermined all the resources of revenue. These results he traced to a double system of government, which he anatomised closely, and denounced as a delusion and a sham. Sir C. Woof► observed upon the divergences of opinion among the opponents of the bill, and the contrariety of the arguments they had employed. Throughout the debate little or nothing had been urged directly in behalf of the amendment itself ; and as for the reasons alleged against the measure, they were so contradictory that it' paired oft' two by two they would mutually neutralise one another. This operation Sir C. Wood then endeavoured to accomplish with regard to many of the arguments used by previous speakers, and proceeded to detect numerous errors of figures and details in their successive statements. All that the Government asked was for a fair trial of their bill. The onus lay with its opponents of proving that it was not worth trying. Mr. DISRAELI, alluding to the hope expressed by Sir J. Graham that the discussion would continue to the end free from party spirit, outlined the privileges and the duties of party leaders, and, submitting that even a party Government was preferable to a despotic one, declared that when questions of such extreme importance were before the Legislature it would be criminal for any large party in that house t► hold themselves aloof in sullen neutrality from the debate. Passing on to the subject before them, he noticed and resisted the efforts made t► mystify the pleas on which the amendment had been supported, and t► disparage the importance of the object it was designed to accomplish : " WC join issue on the point that the plan pr►p►sed by the Liovernment is not an adequate and suffieient plan ; and on the lateness of the session and the imperfect state of the inveatigation—the parliamentary investigation which we have ourselves authoriaed. For thew• reasons we should pause in our progress. And this is a pmps►sit' that has been deseribed as something strange and unprecedented as something dangenms to England and perilous to India, an arrow fn►ut the quiver of Indian reformers—am a course unheard of, not to be tolerated without authority, and certainly fraught with ismsequences that must be depre cated. (Hear, hear.)" Finding in the history of Parliament, that previous bills for Indian government had been postponed when introduced at the fag-end of a session, and in the history of India, that the administrative system now existing was practically inaugurated twenty years since, when the trade was thrown open, the account-basks closed, and the Indian directors changed from simple merchants into the wielders of political power, Mr. Disraeli contended that the machine contrived then, upon imperfect information, and upon an experimental p►inciple, required more extensive alterations than were contemplated in the measure now proposed, and demanded) more delibe rate investigation than the subject bad yet under gone. The evils complained of in 18:1:1 existed still, and yet were left unretnedietl:— " Twenty years have elapsed, and the interval has passed fur which you have provided legislatively. What do we tied:' We still have great complaints. What are they" Vonstant wars—( hear, hear)—% constant detieit—( Hear, hear)—uo edueati —(hirer, hear )—few public works— ( Hrar)—malaultuinistralitat of justice. (Hear.) lint these were the live great pleas urged in lsBl. What do we hear of them again in Im5:1? Are they to is• the five points of the charter ? (" Hear," and laughter.) 1 say that, when we Sod in 1533 and in 1145:1 the same complaints Minh) on subjects of the same vast importance, it becomes Parliament to eutisider the question well." That the evidence was imperfect was their plea for delay. The Government had founded on it an asser tion that no grounds for opposition could be substan tiated. But at all events the facts testified to chronic misgovernment, such as could arise from nothing but essential defects in the system of administration ; while the scheme suggested presented no reform of the essentials. All the causes which had reduced India lower and lower every year for the last twenty years were lett in operation. There was the same extravagance, the same absence of responsibility, the same delusive semblance of a check upon the execu tive power of the directors by the Board of Control. Sooner or later there must he an organic change, by which the Court of Proprietors and their representa tive must cease to exist, and by postponing this change we might place ourselves in a worse position than now. Ultimately lathe, with all her Myrna brance , must become a part of England, and it must be considered whether we could afford another twenty years like those which have elapsed. Alluding to various topics of detail, and criticising the speeches of Mr. Macaulay, Mr. Lowe, and Sir .1. Grahtun, Mr. Disraeli controverted the argument in defence of im mediate legislation based on the ground of the dis turbances existing in other Oriental countries. Similar or worse contests, he observed, were raging iu THE PRESS. 1M33, when the charter was last renewed. Lastly, he adverted to the condition in which the amendment, if adopted, would leave the question. The delay it would interpose had, he said, been largely exaggerated. There was no reason why a better scheme should not Le excogitated by minisste►s during the recess ; and, though ho was aware of the promise to which they had bound themselves of introducing a comprehen. sive measure of parliamentary reform, he saw no reason why some new and wiser India bill should not take the precedence, and be proposed, discussed, and passed before the session of 1554 was a month old. Lord J. ItussEtt. insisted that the amendment was fallacious in tenor, saying one thing and intending another. Nominally it imposed only a brief delay in legislation, really it would throw over the bill until legislation was altogether impossible. The existence of our Indian empire itself would be at stake. With respect to what was called the double government, he reminded the house that it had been said on all sides that you could have no other government than a despotic one in India ; and if so, it would be highly advisable to have in this country a cheek upon the proceedings► of the Governor-General. The house divided, and the numbers were:— For the amendment Against it 321 Majority The bill was then read a second time. THE BA LLOT. Mr. BONHAM CAR rEtt, or► Tuesday, moved for leav e to bring in a bill " to pmvide that whenever a commission to inquire into the corrupt priwtices at any election for any county, divi sion of a county, city, borough, university, or place, in the United Kingdom, shall I►ave issued, under the provisions of the act of the Vith and 16th years of her present Majesty, the votes at the two elect next subsequent thereupon in any such place shall be taken by ballot." At the present moment, the provisions of the bill, said the hon. member, would apply absolutely or probably to Barnstaple, Tynemouth, Mahlon, Canter bury, Cambridge, and Kingston-upon-Hull. Remark ing upon the many debates and divisions which had been taken upon the general principle of the ballot, he anticipated some gratitude on the part of its advo cates, if not of the house generally, for imparting some new features to the subject, and believed that his proposition would do much towards settling the question, by bringing it, on a small scale and under safe conditions, to the experimentum crucis. Mr. F. PEEL, regretting the compulsory absence of his better-qualified and higher-placed colleagues, opposed the motion on their behalf. The ballot question had already undergone ample discussion, as the abstract principle had been thrown out on a divi sion, and should not now be reintroduced in a circuitous and exceptional way. If good at all, the ballot ought to be universally applied ; if bad, why were some localities to be afflicted with it, fir the sake of giving a lesson to the rest? He remarked, also, that front the particular localities which would lie affected by the present motion no symptom of a wish to be made the subject of such an experiment had been perceptible. Mr. 11. ltr:rtst•:t.rv, the great advocate and annual mover of the ballot-principle, objected to its intro duction in so indirect a mode, and in an homoeopathic dose. Mr. Fur. Nett stopped the further progress of the debate by observing that the Ministers had gone to the Palace, and the Speaker was expected there, and by moving the adjournment of the house, which N 114.4 immediately and unanimously voted. INCOM E TAX. After the Ineome-tax Bill had been read a third time in the Lords on Monday, the Earl of Wtestow, on the question that the bill " do pass," moved an amendment, embodying the views so often expressed by his lordship and other members of both houses, that the extension of the tax to Ireland would affect unfairly the landed property of that country. It was notorious, he urged, that the proprietors did not re ceive their full rents, or anything approaching to them ; and, in proposing to make the payments fall in the first instance upon the occupier instead of the landlord, he did but wish to secure the latter from an unjust impost on nominal amounts which they never actually received, and at the same time to assi milate the proetslure of collection in Ireland to what it was in England. Ile trusted the Government would not oppose hi s proposition. The Earl of AsEnnEEN, nevertheless, felt obliged to do so. The system finally incorporated in the bill was adopted after much deliberation, as being on the whole the most just and practicable, and they could not change it. Though aeknowledging the prinui lack ground of complaint on the part of the land lords, in the fact that rents were very irregularly paid by Irish tenants, he observed that, by way of counter balance, their assessment hail been based on the poor law valuation, which was generally highly favourable to the land, and assumed an average of rental in most instances far below the real amount. The difference between the English and Irish system extended may SATURDAY, to the mode of collecting the tax, and had been adopted solely with the view of securing the peace and welfare of Ireland. He saw no reason fur making any change. The debate, which was prolonged for some time by other speakers, closed in a division, when there appeared:— For the amendment Against 34 ajority lO The bill was then passed, and on Tuesday received the royal assent and became au act of Parliament. TRANSFER OF LAND IN IRELAND. Mr. VINCENT SCULLY brought forward hi s bill for facilitating the transfer and conferring a safe title to land in Ireland at the morning sitting on Wednesday. His measure, he said, was short and simple, and had been carefully drawn up in ternat which anybody might comprehend. Its principle was that of extending to real property the advantages of parliamentary title and a ready inexpensive mode of transfer now atforded by the Encumbered Estates Court, but without requiring the lands in question to pass through the process of sale. In action it wag to be perfectly voluntary, presenting its advantages only to those who wished to enjoy them. His plan included, also, a system of land-debentures, under which money could be borrowed on real estates at easy rates, while the debentures themselves would constitute a useful species of circulation, passing from hand to hand like promissory notes, but with far greater security to the holders. Sir .1. YOUNG consented to read the bill a second time, approving of its principles, and believing that some such measure would much improve the value of Irish land. The course, however, which the Government proposed to pursue on the subject was to continue the Enctunhered Estates Act for a limited period, and in the meantime to take this and other bills on the same subject into consideration, with a view to legislate upon them early in the next session, or before the expiry of the renewed Encumbered Estates Act. After a short conversation the bill was read a second time. JAMAICA. The Duke of NEWCASTLE, on Thursday, furnished the House of Peers with an historical narrative of the government of Jamaica, tracing the rise and pro gress of the anomalies which now characterised it, and of the troubles to which they hail led. The dis pute between the Assembly and the Executive hail now reached such a height that the whole adminis tration had come to a dead-lock. The Assembly had refused to vote the necessary bills for the collection of the taxes, and, the Customs and Rum Duties Act having thus ceased to operate, 1,1)001. per day was lost out of the income of the colony. Governor Grey, in this emergency, had proposed to supply a temporary remedy, by issuing a commission with power to enact such peremptory ordinances as might be requisite ; a step for which a precedent had been set in D+39. The home Government, however, had preferred the trial of a new governor, whose etiOrts, they hoped, might result in a pacific solution of the difficulties. For this purpose their choice had fallen on Mr. Henry Barkly, who had proved his abilities by a successful ailministration of affairs in British Guiana. The salary of the new governor would be reduced from 6,000/. to b,OOO/. per annum ; and, it the same time, strenuous exertions would be made to retrench the cost of all the establishments in the colony, and to place its financial system on a sounder basis. The Earl of DERBY and Earl Gum - expressed their approval of this course, and the subject dropped. THE TURKISH QUESTION. Mr. I.vvxtut hits given notice that on Friday next, the Rth instant, lie will direct dal attention of the house to the present state of the relationship between Russia and Turkey. WEST IN DU DEBT. In reply to a question from Mr. Toi.t.ENIAI•IIK, Mr. WiI.MON explained the effunie iuteudwl to he pursued with respect to the loans insult. to Antigua, Nevis, and Montserrat, in 1543. The sum afivaured was 110,000/., and of this 10 per 4.4.iit. was to be reload every year, with 4 per cent. interest. .thtique had repaid 9,fsitg., mid will very siiiirtly have repaid 12,0001., while the others had paid nothing. This ereatte.d a dittieulty, the object of the Government being to pimp them all on the sawn folding. It was, however, proptettsl that the interest fon the loon should be reiltwea to 3% per rent, to Antigua, and that the 1 iwr cent. cliarzed tin notitagement should be remitted, ma the Ulllllll.l repayments of the principal reflfteefl filen 10 to 5 per ertit. ha. street iialis Lod been sent out to the gOVerleirvl other i‘lallti4 to the eiteet that they would be admitted to the tonne etiventages Its /swot had played themselves in the same position as Antique. Shilitla this proposition not be setts, upou, Govern ment would be remitted batek to its present position. THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. Sir .1. You mi ha, 711111011114.1 . 11 that it is the intention of the Go. Tell • ut booolll to inquire into the operation of the law with respect to real property in Ireland. MUMMY AT ELECTIONS. Sir W. JIIT.T.IFEE lot+ given notice that on the 211th of July he would wove for leave to bring in a bill to consolidate the laws re lating to bribery, int inthiation, and treating at eleetions. FRES(' II I N DUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. In reply to a unrsti.oi trout Mr. W. BROWN, Lord J. Hussy:Li, said that the I.'llllA Government L o d a'. tient"i that all goods, the result of private enterprise, now liable to duty on being imported into Franee, should be admitted duty free for the pitrpog* of Ulu vI ttll Nalivut