The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-13 00:00:00

I La rut F. SO VI OS ch de St Pr wl be frt n 1 lit wt in fai ba to , col sta bill liar the on ses the alit in fun sid, Ea of t a b uni gay par its aut flan the con opp witl inq for con bee Civ cas and for crit not witl she orit con gce pas PM Gei der Lot mil Ind an the 1 for was ire: pre urg but tim duff urn not pre: liar siti, (sal liar elia aba bea Go, ail THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 13, 1858. have jurisdiction or authority, ecclesiastical or spi itual, within these realms:: mr. NAPIER coincided with the view taken by Sir yrliesiger, and intended to vote for his proposed anendment to committee. Lord J. RUSSELL feared that the time was not come when Parliament could be persuaded to sanction an oa th applicable alike to Protestants and Catholics. He insisted also on the necessity of retaining the clause by which the authority of the Crown was declared supreme, as sole head both of Church and irate. Sir G. GREY believed that the measure before them p r omised the most attainable solution of a question which had been so many years almost constantly before Parliament. Mr. BI,AND supported the bill. Mr. BOWYER wished to remove all disabilities from the Jews. He would not, however, eupport a measure which re-imposed the oath appointed for Roman Catholics in the Emancipation Act, and whose expressions were, he maintained, absurd i n themselves, and insulting to the members of that faith. Mr. MAGUIRE, in the name of the Roman Catholic body, repudiated toleration and demanded equality. The bill was then read a second time, and ordered be committed on that day fortnight. The Havelock Annuities Bill was passed through committee. The house adjourned shortly after four o'clock. HOUSE OF LORDS—Tinnisn&y. THE REFORM DILL. Earl GRANVILLE, in reply to Lord Carnavon, stated that the Government intended to introduce a bill in the course of the present session for Par liamentary Reform, but that the precise time when they might introduce it must " depend very much the general prospect of the business of the session ;an on this as on other questions," added the noble earl, " her Majesty's Government must be allowed to exercise their discretion as to the mode . which they would introduce it, awl as to the best time for obtaining for it the calm and deliberate con sideration of Parliament." THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. Earl GREY then presented the petition which the East India Company had drawn up in consequence If the determination of the Government to introduce A bill to place her Majesty's East Indian possessions under the direct authority of the Crown. Earl Grey lye a sketch of the contents of the petition paragraph by paragraph, and declared that he thought its arguments unanswerable, and that the transfer of authority contemplated would be attended with most `sog,erens results, inasmuch as every step taken by ,ne Government with regard to India would then be considered a party question, and canvassed and opposed accordingly. On one point alone he differed with the petitioners—namely, in their demand for inquiry, before Parliament should entertain a measure their supersession. Lord Grey insisted, on the contrary, that if great faults could bo shown to have been committed by the Court of Directors, or the Civil Service subject to them, they had better be cashiered forthwith, rather than that a condemned and morally paralysed system should be maintained ,or a year or two longer under circumstances so critical as the present. On the other hand, the noble earl challenged those who sought to make away nth the patronage and power of the Company to show any important instance in which they had originated mischievous measures, obstructed wise counsels, or admitted acknowledged duties. All the great errors of policy, he maintained, committed in past times in India were referable, distinctly and emphatically, to the Board of Control, the Governors. General, or the military commanders, all of whom derived their power from the Crown. In conclusion, Lord Grey declared the rebellion to be only a military mutiny —a mutiny which the population of India had not in any way supported, and which was an incontestable proof of the beneficent effects of the Company's government. The Duke of ARGYLL believed that the necessity ;effecting large changes in the Indian Government was universally recognised, and argued that it was inexpedient to prolong the period of suspense. The preliminary objections raised by the Company and urged by Lord Grey were, he maintained, merely `iugbears ; and as to the argument that the present ime was inopportune, replied that a moment of Acuity was especially that in which a strong and anted Government was most desirable. lie would it anticipate Lord l'aimerston's bill, but he ex tressed a hope that should the two Houses ot Par iment on the whole he dissatisfied with the propo rtion which Lord Palmerston will make, " I trust said the noble duke) they will take into their own lands the task of proposing some modification or latige of the existing system ; that they will at least bandou that which I must describe as another bug• ')ir by doing away with a mere form, and vest the Government of India where it already practically exists—in the name of the Crown." Lord ELLENBOBOUGH, though still of opinion that great strength would be given to the Government of India if carried on in the name of the Crown, thought the time for making any further change " peculiarly inopportune." With a great war before us, with a revolution to contend with, and with the prospect of a Parliamentary Reform Bill, was that the moment for reconstructing the Government of India ? "My lords," said the noble earl, " let me entreat you, before you can engage in this measure, to con sider for a moment what really our position in India is " We have been told, fortnight after fortnight, as each new telegram arrives, that the neck of the mutiny has been broken, or that it has been crushed, or that it has been disposed of by various modes of death, and yet that mutiny and its result—a war—still exist. We are told that Sir Colin Campbell has taken Furruckabad. i happen to know what forces Sir Colin Campbell, General Outram, and Colonel Seaton had about the 7th of September. Sir Cohn Campbell had 11,000 men, exclusive of artillerymen, who served thirty-six guns. From that period until the 10th of December 230 men a day could be forwarded by diik carts from Calcutta to Allahabad. The whole of that reinforcement would have arrived at Allahahad on the very day on which Sir Cohn Campbell took Furruckabad. He had at Benares two regiments, and he would have by that time at his disposal for field operations at the outside, without hope of adding to them, 17,500 men. Now, we know that although the Governor-General of India may have shown—Parliament says he has, and Parliament must be right—(a laugh)—energy and ability in crying out for aid as soon as be became thoroughly alarmed, and energy and ability in organising a system of dear carriages, those two valuable qualities have not enabled him to provide even 6,300 men with the carriages by which alone they can move, and that, in point of fact, the commander-in-chief, after his victory, the very last time at which a general would like to stop, was detained for a fortnight at Cawnpore because he could not move his troops. Again, is there one of the new cavalry regiments yet mounted? Has it a horse fit for ser vice ? Is there a single battery horse? Besides, during the rains elephants are essential to move the army through water, but none were sent until the rains were over. Again, yon may mount your cavalry on camels, but no camels were sent for. If you have a difficulty about horses you may get bullocks, but bullocks there appear to have been none. Now, what are the operations which Sir Colin Campbell has now before him? On the left bank of the Ganges he has nothing, and, except the high road from Benares to Allahabad, along which the troops move, all the rest of the country is now in the hands of the enemy. We have nothing on the right of the Jumna. The whole of Central India is against us. The native princes have been faithful to us, but their army in some instances has turned against them ; and up to this moment, with the exception of the small corps under Colonel Seaton, which has done excellent service, no force has been able to cross to the right bank of the Nerbudda. We have, therefore, through out the whole of Central India, not only to recruit our garrisons, but to re-establish our authority and the autho rity of the native princes who have remained faithful to our rule. We have much to do at Jhansi, and we have to assist in vindicating and re-establishing the outraged autho rity of Uwalior, that noble prince who has rendered us such signal services during this terrible crisis. (Cheers.) For that we require an army ; we have a great field before us, and what I ask her Majesty's Government is to consider how they are continuously to supply a sufficient number of men to enable the commander-in-chief to carry out the measures which he may deem absolutely necessary for the restoration of our authority and for putting down the enemy. (Cheers.) We know nothing whatever yet of any such measures having been thought of by the Government. All the force you can send ont will be scarcely sufficient to restore our supremacy. First of all re-establish your empire. (Cheers.) Show you have the power everywhere to put down all opposition to your rule. Stand as sovereigns of the country before you think of forming a new Govern ment. (Renewed cheers.) Lord GRANVILLE explained, in some measure, the intentions of the Government : When her Majesty's Ministers determined upon submitting to Parliament a measure which would lead to those happy results they deemed it inexpedient to change the whole Go vernotent of India, but came to the conclusion, while abolishing the Court of Directors, not to destroy the India house, by which means they hope still to retain the ser vices of men—such, for instance, as those who have drawn up this petition—capable of giving their advice in the con duct of our Indian Administration. The Earl of DERBY protested against the conduct of the Government:— If it is the intention of th,. Government to do nothing more than what has been indicated by my noble friend behind me—if they are going to make an alteration in form, and not in substance—if they are not really about to abolish the double government, then I must say they have throughout kept the East India Company in a state of the most profound ignorance and of the most unnecessary alarm. ( Hear.) The intimation to the Company was, that it was the intention of the Ministry to abolish the double government of India. Could any man have sup. posed from such a notice, without further communication, that the Government meant to 10 nothing more than make a mere alteration in point of form, and that the existing machinery would be kept almost untouched, with the simple difference that the government is to be con (Meted in the name of the Queen, instead of that of the Company? If this was all the Government intended in the first instance, I say they must be subjects for a lunatic asylum fur not explaining their views to the East India Company. (Hear.) The real fact is (said Lord Derby) they did not know tbemselves—they had not made up their minds before Christmas : They had determined on a very extensive measure, to which they expected the East India Company and the country would submit without alarm and without remon strance. Then they found their difficulties greater than they imagined, and at the last moment they fell back from their original intention; and, after all their b.g words, I shall not be at all surprised if to-morrow we Lind a very miserable and insignificant measure brought forward. (" Hear," and a laugh.) The petition was then ordered to lie on the table, and the motion for correspondence agreed to, and their lordships adjourned at 8.3(1 p.m. HOUSE OF' COMNIoNS—TiII'REMAY. NEW WRIT. On the motion of Mr. HAY TER a new writ was ordered for the county of Wicklow, to elect, a suc cessor to Viscount Milton, who is called to the House of Peers, as Earl Fitzwilliam. MORTALITY IN THE ARMY. Lord PALIIERBO24, in reply to Mr. Laurie, said the great defects in the arrangements of the existing barracks and hospitals was a matter far too impor- tant and too interesting to the country to be allowed to remain without due attention. PUBLIC PROSECUTORS. Lord PALMERSTON, in reply to Mr. :wart, with reference to the appointment of a Public Prose cutor, said that no steps had been taken for that purpose ; and in further reply to Mr. Warren, that no measure had been prepared for the establishment of a department by which the bills brought into Par. liament might he properly supervised. BANKS. Mr. HEADLAM moved for leave to Lring in a bill to abolish the distinction between joint stock banks and other joint-stock companies, with reference to the liability of their partners, by enabling such banks to limit the liability of the shareholders. He proposed in his bill to provide for the most complete publicity of the amount of the original capital and how much had been paid up, and to put joint•stock banks in the same position as other joint-stock com panies. The motion was seconded by Mr. SLANEY, and leave was ultimately given. EDUCATIONAL Sir J. PAKINOTON moved an address to the Crown praying for the appointment of a commission " to inquire into the present state of popular education in England, and whether the present system is or is not sufficient for its object; and to consider and re port what changes, if any, are required for the exten sion of sound and cheap elementary instruction to all classes of the people." Observing that the mo tion, though referring to a subject that had been annually mooted in Parliament by himself and other members, Sir J. Pakington remarked that the form of his present motion was different from its prede cessors in other sessions. He did not propose a scheme of education, or bring forward a bill, but merely asked for inquiry. He proceeded to quote statistical returns, showing the lamentable deficiency of the means of education in England. This defi ciency was, moreover, increasing. The proportion of children above ten years of age who were attending schools of any description bad dwindled, between 1850 and 1857, from 37 to 27 in 100. England stood only tenth among nations in its educational statu.. In Saxony nearly every child received in struction ; in the United States 91 per cent., and in England not more than 45 per cent. Enforcing the extreme importance of the subject, the right hon. baronet exhorted the house not to give grounds for a suspicion that they neglected all questions which did not happen to appeal to party interests. Lord STANLEY seconded the motion. Mr. W. COWPER said he thought that the sug gested inquiry was likely to elicit very valuable information, arid that the issue of a royal commis sion would be an unexceptionable mechanism for oonducting it. Their researches ought, however, to be limited to matters of fact, and not extend to matters of opinion. He objected to some terms of Sir J. Pakington's resolution, because be feared they would open useless branches of inquiry. Recog nising the difficulties that surrounded the subject, and some of which he described, the hon. member asserted that education was really advancing steadily by aid of the various means which had been put into operation, some under Government supervision, and helped by public money, and others supported by private benevolence. Approving the motion generally, he hoped that the proposer wonld consent to some modification in its phraseology so as to remove the objections he bad indicated. Mr. HENLEY opposed the motion. He suggested material points in such an inquiry which a commis sion could not get at, and that it would be unjust to arm a commission with power to intrude into schools which did not cost the State a fin thing. He regretted, lie said, to find throughout Sir J. Pakington's resolution not the least allusion to reli gious education, and he saw many things iu this con- . . 153