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

JULY 2, 1853. petting worse through the expected loss of a large opium revenue in China, the right hon. baronet had inquired whether the house would take upon them selves the responsibility of governing and providing for the government of India. Mr. Cobden regretted to see such a tone asstuued in that place : " Was there ever anything more utterly indefensilole than such a position as that ? (!Hear, hear ) If they allowed the right 1 . gentleman to have another lease on the plea that the finances heel been brought into such a state Hest it was not desirable for thou to assume the management for themselves, what inducement did they hold out to him to do better ill future? (hear, hear.) lie thought that house must be very shallow indeed, and the country greatly wanting in that sagac►ty for which they had credit, it' they allowed themselves to be deluded by such a plea as that. (Ifear, hear.)" He noticed an important omission in the bill, in not remedying the anomaly now existing in the relation ship between the Queen's ships and the Indian tio vernment. The latter could only ask assistance and advice, while recent experience in the Rangoon att'air showed that a naval officer like Captain Lambert could act at his own discretion, in direct contraven tion of the injunctions of a tiovernor-tieneral. Re specting the general principles whereon the British empire in India should be established, Mr. Cobden denounced the policy of annexation, denied the pos sibility of our retaining permanent dominion in that country, and recommended a speedy settlement of the English predominance in Hindostan upon its true basis, as a simply commercial and temporary ar rangement : " They could not leave a more perilons possession to their children than that which they would leave them in the comatudly increasing territory of India. ( Ileur, hear.) The English race eould never beeonte indigenous in India; they must govern it, if they governed it at all, by means of a succession of transient visits; and he did not think it was for the interest of the English people, any more than of the people of India, that they should govern permanently 1110 millions of people, 12.01a1 miles oft: He saw no benefit which could arise to the mass of the Eng lish issple from their connecti with India, except (mutt which might arise from honest trade ; he did not see how the millions of this country were to share in the patronage of India, or to derive any advantage from it. except through the medium of trade. When he saw that this vast territory was now being govented under a fiction, that the I invent meta was not a real one, Intl one which one of the most able servants of the emptily had declared to be a sham. he stud—lto not let the people of this country delude theta selves with the idea that they can escape the responsibility by putting the tiovennuent 'behind a screen. Ile wished, therefore, to look this question fairly in the face. Lit it no longer be thought that a few gentlemen meeting in Lea denhall-street could screen the people of England from the responsibility with which they had invested themselves with regard to India. Believing that if this fiction were destroyed—if this mystery were exterminated—there were already the germs of a better state of things in reference to this question, and believing that as yet they were pro foundly ignorant of what was wanted for India, he should vote for the atuendtuent that they should wait fur two years.,, Sir J. Gum'Am rejoiced to find that so important a question was discussed without party spirit. Dilating upon the difficulties that surrounded the question, he then examined the objections urged against the Government measure. It had been criticised for its indefiniteness and lack of anything like permanence. But if the provisions it contained were good, and worked well, they would be found sufficiently per manent; if not,, it was right that Parliament should have power to alter them. He praised Lord Stanley's speech for its talent and candour, but remarked that by being candid it had become less vigorous. There were admissions in it which blunted the effect of its objections. Detailing the several points whereon he noticed that Lord Stanley had pronounced some approbation of the Government bill, Sir. J. Graham proceeded to remark upon the two subjects on which the real opposition to the bill was made to turn— delay, and the double system of administration. Regarding the former he drew a picture of the im mediate perils that beset our Indian empire, with revolution in China on the one hand, and a war in Burmah on the other, and cited the recorded opinions of Hardinge, Ellenborough, Dalhousie, and other authorities in favour of immediate action. Besides authority, there were arguments equally strong in support of that course : " It must never lie forgotten on how slender a point was based the tenure of our hold on India. It was mainly au empire of opinion. If we shook the confidence of the country in the permanence of our ntle it would be by throwing a doubt on the steadiness of the Government and on the firmness of the hand which grasped it. If we shook confidence we disturbed the f;nu►datiun of our rule. Was it necessary wantonly to incur such risk ? " He took credit to the Government for a conscien tious performance of duty, in persisting with a measure which their individual ease and party in terests would have alike counselled them to postpone. Upon the second head, that of double government, Sir J. Graham threw aside the charge that it was " anomalous," by observing that both in England and India the system of government was surrounded by anomalies ; and to the charge of innovation re plied that hinmelf and Ma colleagues were not THE PRESS. alarmed at it. They had been innovators before, and were likely to be innovators again. Yet he con tended that the supporters of the tunendnwnt, those at least who wished to have greater changes intro duced in the Indian tiovenunent, were the real innovators, and ought to be prepared with a more specific detail of their reasons and purposes. That the present I.ystem was defective he admitted; the Ministers had seen the defeet and proposed a limited remedy, not perhaps theoretically perfeet, but one that was practically demonstrated t o be nev e s _ sary. They took their stand there, and believed that whoever wanted to go farther was bound to show the necessity for it. Citing from Lord Stanley's speech the aphorism that the '• tree should be tried by its fruits," Sir .1. tiraham went on to exhibit some of what he termed the fruits of the existing double government system; and from the triumphs of Pol lock, Nutt, and liardinge, from the successes that had attended our arms and diplomacy., from the judgments of well-qualified historians, and from the fact that so many distinguished individuals to whom had been entrusted the destinies of 11 vast territory and the fortunes of millions of people had retired at last in an honourable state of comparative poverty,he drew the conclusion that the system could not be bad which lett to su c h results and was administered by such men. Theoretieally he found much to ad mire in the double meelianism. It came up almost to the ideal of government, exhibiting a strong ecu tral power, checked but not controlled by the reason ing of an independent hotly : I d o no t IWI i t • V e that any secreta►y of Mato polilieSSVS more realpower in a motes rllt of enu•rgeury thou alleol the President of the Board of l'ontrol over our Indian empire, subject only to the cheek, that, if those well informed upon linlitut questions oiler well-grounded °Neill •to any course ho may tel inclined to take, he must urge iulverse reasons, and his ultimate ►eslsansibility will 100 very inereastsl by his rejeetion of the reasons tendered to him." Adverting to some of Mr. Cobden's personal accusa tions, he declared that a private intimacy with live governors-general enabled him to deny the charge laid against them of indifference to the real pros perity of India, and of too great fondness for expen sive wars : It has been my fortune to knot tive governors•geurral, and toy earliest and valued friend, Issnl William lientinek, went out determined that his govt.' 'la 411011111 be peace ful, and it phrased Providence that he should 101. Clll4liled to ran•y OM Ilk ret4ulittion. His whole isTioil of liltiee was 'smith.. I have known filur ether gteentoN-general. haw known lead Allekl3ll4l, I have known Lord Ellen borough, I have known Lora Itadiugu•, a n d I know Lent Dalhousie—and I ran speak positively of these four go vernora•general, that their intentions were MOta decidedly the same as those of Lord William Itentinck. It was their finn intention on entering upon the govennuent of India to avoid the cause of war, and peacefully to ailminister the affairs of that country. T believe that one and all of these governurs•geuend took every care to avoid war ; and I ant equally confident that it was not t h e home tieventment, not the Queen's miuisteni, nor the Court of llire•tors, that urged upon them the poliey ofdepartingfrom their peaceful intentions. it was out the British policy. but Indian ne eessity, that induced those wars in which they were forced to engage." Meeting with a blank denial another charge, that of depriving the natives of their due proportion of official appointments, Sir J. tirahain entreated the house to pass the second reading of the bill, meow ing them that the Govermnent had every disposition, when they came to consider its details, to meet. in a spirit of perfect candour every suggestion fur its improvement. Sir H. MAneoes disapproved of partial and imper fect legislation, such as the bill presented. There were many points on whirls it made no provision, and for which the President of the Boar►( of Control would henceforth have to exercise his own discretion. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that, having beets once introduced, the rejection of the measure would produce a prejudicial effect in India, and he therefore consented to give it a qualified adoption. At the same time there were many details, some of which he specified, that required amendment, and he trusted to the committee to accomplish something in that way. Mr. Putt.ramont: refused to take Sir .1. Graham's "fruits" as the true tests of an administrat . . The real character of any system of government was to be traced in the condition of the populat . ; and on this point he stated a multitude of facts, upon which he based a heavy charge of maltultninist ration against the past and present rulers of India. A few plausi ble phrases, he remarked, could not counterbalance the enormous misery which the India Government had accumulated on its subjects. Parliament should not be thus satisfied; but, repenting before repent ance was too late, do tardy justice to the people at whose subjection they had so long connived. Mr. Mo:4:flair!! WINES believed that it was not the system that ought to be blamed or changed. The cleverest men had tried to administer the best devised schemes of government; and, if they had failed in producing welfare and happiness among the people, he Saw in that result no ground for over setting the present order of things, but a lesson of humiliation in the proof it afforded of the futility of all human entleayoure. 197 BlthillT reduced the question once more to its practical bearings. Were they to postpone legisla. non for two years. or go on at once? A few weeks ago, he rem inded them that the house, the public, the press, and even the tiovennuent themselves, seemed convced that postponement was advisable. Nothing since had occurred to produce a change in that conclusion. The eagerness for immediate legis lation he attributed to a conseiousness of the defects of the existing system, which delay would render more apparent. Sir J. liogg and his friends said 6e legislate now," because they believed that in two years they would be fini s h out, and the double government plan would not then be endured 'mother hour. Previous speaker+ for the bill, instead o f de fending it on its merits, had diverged into panegyrics of the Company's administration, and supported a scheme for the future by finding something to ad mire in the results of the past. Mr. Bright then recapitulated the proofs of error in .theory, and the signs of evil and misery in praetice, which lay at them door of the existing Indian Goverment. The pub lie works which had been described so pompously he depicted as being more showy than useful. no ironic-roads were military and not commercial in utility—one of the pmincipal ones running for two lemmlred miles through a jungle ; while, in the gross total, a larger sum was contributed by Manchester alone for loeal impmvements than in the whole Indian peninsula, whence the directors sucked :17 millions of 11111111111 rtWellUti. After some strictures on the thiaenried condition of India, he then proceeded to examine the bill. Assailing time principle on which the Indian administration was founded, he urgedthat the proprietors had no eontrol over the directors, the latter had none over the secret committee, and that again had none over the Board of Control, nor had the press or Parliament any power over the Indian Government ;'and no bill tending tAm continue the mask and rillbtATfllge receive anything but the con demean:at Ire Ime.,7lllled on the Government and int the present measure. The Govennuent had certainly done mum+ to degrade the Court of Directors by taking patronage from it, and by showing an opinion that its constituency was unfit to elect all its mem bers, but no direct responsibility was created as regarded a minister in that House, and the President of the Board of Control would shuttle away from 'lndian questions as heretofore. lie pmnounced his firm belief in the necessity of conducting the govern ment of India in the m u te of the Crown, adducing the example of other eobleies in proof of the control which WAS thus assigned to the Legislature and public opinion over the management of their affairs, and the advantages which had thence sternest. If the govenunent of India were still allowed to NI carried on under a mask, and with a merely delusive sent Mauve of responsibility, Parliament would forfeit its character, and Englishmen would show that, though strong enough for conquest, they were not wise enough tom empire. Mr. temstme, liked both the double government and immediate legislation—the former as a bar to political and parliamentary influences; time hitter, among other reasons, because it was recommended by Lord Dalhousie. Sir .1. Hiroo defended the measure and himself front many attacks on matters of detail which they had suffered at the hands ofprevious speakers. Upon the general principle of the measure be appnwed of all the changes proposed to be made in India, but saw no reason for the proposed alterations at home. As possessing, however, the great reeommendation of retaining the Kest India Company in its position of a governing tasty between the Crown and India, he gave time bill his support. The debate, which was then adjourned, was re sumed on Thursday, when Mr. Ince remarked upon the mmenmitude of the question, which bed sprung up into such importance, like a grain of mustard seed, almost in a night. Sketching the principles on which India should be governed as being accessibility to office by all natives, of winatevtr colour, according to merit, the responsibility of the Minister of India to the Legislature, and liability to the debts incurred for the wars in which we engaged, Mr. Rich regretted to notice the absence of those principles from the bill, and rectenmended delay in order to introduce theta properly. Mr. C. liauce believed that time present time was a very proper time to legislate for India, and that time present 1111.11.411 re, which he analysed at much length, was on the whole a tolerably proper measure. Mr. MARJOHABANKS defended the Court of Pro prietors. Mr. NArnit, though not prepared to reject the hill absolutely, showed reasons for asking the house to suspend itm judgment. Mr. .1. Msconrooa approved of the bill on the very ground that the reform% it inaugurated were so moderate. lie enlarged on the danger of effecting sweeping changes in the government of a population of 1541 millions, professing different religions, and speaking fourteen different languages, with di visions of caste and traditional hatreds into the bar gain.