The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

I JULY 28, 1855. FREDERICK Ron, a civilian of most unimpeach able honour, testified to the same thing. MILL tells us in his history that similar complaints, with a similar view to annexation, were in his day made against Oude ; yet that it was clear that our own territories in Bengal were, on the whole, very much worse governed. WIL sox, in his continuation of MILL, speaking of Oude in modern days, says : The frequent assertions of occular witnesses are on record that Oude was in as prosperous a condition as the Company's own provinces, and that, whatever grievances the people might endure, they considered them light in comparison with the unrelenting pressure of the revenue system of their neighbours (under the Company's rale), or the wearisome and vexatious processes of their courts of justice. Certain it is that the subjects of the King of Oude never showed any disposition to seek a refuge from their miseries in the contiguous districts under British rule, and that the tide of migration, so far as it has in fluenced the undulation of the population, was more inclined to set in an opposite direction. Such being the state of the case, we may fairly question whether annexation might not, at any rate, be suspended for the present ; but the Company talk high and loudly of their sacred mission, their reverence for virtue, their horror of vice, and the necessity of punishing frivolity in native princes by de priving them summarily of their thrones. Stipulations and treaties are not, it is said, to stand in the way of the performance of so holy a duty, nor the fear of misrepresentation, grounded on the fact that annexation would bring about a million of yearly additional income into the Company's pocket. Such is the way the Company talks when the question is the annexation of Oude. But, before we yield consent, let us see how it fulfilled this sacred mission it so feels the responsibility of when it fell to its lot to dispose of Cash mere. Some nine years ago Cashmere fell fairly, by right of conquest, into the Company's hands. It was their own, to do as they pleased with ; and this is what they did. For the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling they sold it to GOOLAB SING, the pre sent ruler of it, and sent their own troops to put him in possession of it. GOOLAB SiNo's character it would be impossible for us to depict properly, for the simple reason that it is too horrible for an English pen to describe. Suffice it to say that he had risen from the position of a common trooper to that of chief favorite of RUNJEET SING by the most shameful means—that in the infamies he had been guilty of he had exceeded everything ever heard of previously even in Eastern life—and that his cruelties and atrocities were on a par with his infamies, his common practice being to cut persons who had offended him joint by joint to pieces, and to flay alive the ryots who were unable to pay him his rents. Lest we should be thought to exaggerate in drawing the picture of this most horrible monster, we shall proceed to quote what is said of him by Major CARMICHAEL SMYTH in his " History of the Reigning Family of Lahore," and by Sir HENRY LAWRENCE in his " Adventures in the Punjaub" - - Ambitious, avaricious, and cruel by nature, he reduced the exercise of his cruelty to a system for the promotion of the objects which his ambition and avarice led him to seek. He exercised the most ruthless barbarities, not in the heat of conflict or in the flush of victory, nor in the rage of an offended sovereign against rebellious subjects—ha de liberately committed the most horrible atrocities for the purpose of investing his name with a terror that should drown all thoughts of resistance to his cruel away. I have been now twenty-five years in India, and during the whole of my sojourn in the East I have never heard of so infamous a miscreant as the Rajah of Jummoo (Goolab Sing), though I am acquainted with the evil deeds of such wretches as Kam Ran and Yar Mahomed, his vizier, with whom the British Government, to their cost, at one time were connected.—Carmichael Smyth's History. He (Goolab Sing) has overrun the whole district between Cashmere and Attock, and inflicted such terrible vengeance on the people of Sudan, a large district south•east of Moogufferabad, cutting up, maiming, and flaying, to the amount. it is said, of twelve thousand persons, that the men of Dundi and Satti, two adjoining territories, sent in their subscription, but begged not to see his face. Of Goolab Sing I have heard tales which I can hardly believe myself, and therefore will not task my readers' credence with them.—Sir Henry Lawrence's " Adventures in the Purkjaub." Such is the monster to whom, coolly, deliberately, and with a full knowledge of the man, the Company sold Cashmere and its inhabitants—the consideration being the payment of seven hundred and fifty thou sand pounds. Yet, with that blood-money THE PRESS. reeking in their hands, they prate of their high and sacred mission as the instru ments appointed by PROVIDENCE for the spread of virtue, civilisation, justice, and good govern ment throughout the various realms of Hin doostan. LAW REFORM. WHAT has been done up to the present time in the way of consolidating the Statute Law of England ? In February, 1853, Lord CRAN WORTH announced his projected undertaking, which he entitled " A Consolidated Digest of the Statute Laws." This attempt was only supplementary to one made twenty years earlier by Lord BROUGHAM, who in 1833 had issued a Commission to five barristers to inquire into and report upon this same subject. Lord BROUGHAM'S Commissioners were, Mr. BELLEN DER KER, Mr. STARKIE, Mr. Justice WIGHTMAN, Mr. ARROS, and Mr. AUSTIN. Lord CRANWORTH recalled Mr. BELLENDER KER to his old post, and put under him " four barristers of in " telligence and industry," who were never theless to be briefless, or, as it was delicately phrased, " whose position will not be such as " to prevent them from devoting almost the " whole of their time to the task." They were to be engaged for one year only—that is, on trial—for the work could not be supposed capable of completion in that time. Mr. KER was to receive 1,000/. for his services, and each of his colleagues 600/. A room at the Trea sury was to be assigned to them, and their duties were to commence forthwith. Such is the outline of the project, as we find it in Lord CRANWORTH'S letter of Feb. 28th, 1853. The mode of procedure was to be as follows : First, a list to be made out of statutes (1) re pealed, (2) expired, (3) obsolete or unne cessary in the present state of society, (4) obsolete but revised, (5) doubtful as regards their present validity, in consequence of long disuse. Next, after eliminating the above superfluous matter, the existing Statute Law to be arranged according to subjects, and a digest thereof made, with translations of the statutes in French or Latin. Thirdly, on this digest a scheme of consolidation to be based, its pre cise nature remaining still undetermined. On the above plan the gentlemen selected went to work—Mr. KER at their head, Messrs. COODE, ANSTEY, ROGERS, and BRICKDALE, acting under his general guidance. But few regular meetings were held, and of those only scanty minutes appear in the Parliamentary record. Each, however, selected his own share of duty, Mr. CooDE taking in hand a digest of the Poor Law, Mr. ROGERS of the Mercantile Marine Acts,' Mr. ANSTEY of Acts re lative to the National Debt, and Mr. BRICKDALE of the Law of Landlord and Tenant. One diffi culty appears to have caused some perplexity even from the first. What was to be done with the old law after the proposed consolida tion should have taken place ? If existing rights and interests were to be respected, and the invariable practice in such matters fol lowed, the amended, or consolidated, law could only be made prospective; but in that case the existing statutes must remain in force as regarded the past; they could not, there fore, be expunged from the books ; and the bulk of these would be, not lessened, but aug mented, by the addition (not substitution) of the new permanent enactment—a serious ob jection, and one which the joint ingenuity of the Commissioners appears to have been un able to get over—for it is stated nakedly— without even an attempt at solution. But other and graver obstacles were shortly encountered. The meetings of the Commission had been rare and short; no formal minutes were kept; its members assembled at the chambers of one of their members, instead of at the office pro. vided ; nor were these informalities compen sated by any particular activity in the perform• ante of their difficult task. In truth, it soon became evident to Lord CRANWORTH, as it had long been to others, that the machinery he had set in motion was not powerful enough for the work it had to do. As early in the session as March 17th, Lord ST. LEONARDS had reminded him that in 1816—nearly forty years back, when the bulk of the statutes was far less than at present—a committee had been INIV!`." 703 appointed for the purpose of merely reclass ing them; and this committee reported that the duty ought to be delegated to a staff of barristers, with not less than twenty clerks. As to codification, or such a consolidation as to include not alone the Statute Law, but also that which BENTHAM termed "judge-made " law—i.e., those decisions by which, quoted as precedents, the statutes are interpreted—thir- teen blue-books had been published on crimi nal legislation alone ; and yet, after all this investigation, nothing had been effected. To codify the entire law, Lord Sr. LEONARDS said, was a work of which no man living could hope to see the end. The CHANCELLOR did not deny this, but dwelt on the importance of making a beginning, and thought his reforms would be valuable as far as they went. And when, towards the close of the Parliamentary year, he was called upon to say what had been the result of his Commission, he summed up their labours thus : Of statutes passed from the date of Magna Charta down to the present time it had been found that there were 16,442. Of these there were actually repealed, 2,700 • and virtually re pealed by the enactment of other statutes, 2,600 more. Deducting further the number actually obsolete, about 7,000, there remained a resi duum of 3,900, which might fairly be pro nounced still in force. But of these, again, 600 related only to Ireland, 420 to Scotland, and 400 to the Colonies ; thus leaving only 2,500 with which it was necessary to deal. On the mode of operation henceforth to be adopted Lord CRANWORTH was not clear. He suggested only as desirable the throwing toge ther of such statutes as related to single and isolated subjects—such as poor law, railway law, statutes relative to public works, to the National Debt, and the like. On this not particularly definite statement no comment ensued, and the question of law reform was laid by for the year. In 1554 a new Board was constituted on a plan more extensive, and including names more professionally eminent than the last. Lords CRANWORTH, BROUGHAM, LYNDHURST, WROTTESLET, and CAMPBELL ; Sir J. JERVIS, Sir F. POLLOS:K, Sir J. PARKE, the LORD ADVOCATE ; Messrs. WALPOLE, NAPIER, BELLENDER KER, KEOGH, BREWSTER, and CRAITTURD ; Sir W. PAGE WOOD, Sir A. COCKBURN, and Sir R. Bynum., composed this body of functionaries. Their commission dates August 23rd, 1H54, and is extended by a later document of December 15th in the same year. It embraces both Common and Statute Law, and includes the following directions:- 1. To consolidate the statutes where cow veniently possible, including therein such parts of the Common or Unwritten Law as they may think fit. 2. To devise rules for greater simplicity and uniformity hereafter. A secretary to be appointed, and any wlearned and skilful" persons to be employed hom the Commissioners may think fit. Re ports to be made from time to time. Previous to the meeting of this body a memorandum was addressed to its members by the LORD CHANCELLOR, stating what had been done, or attempted, during the previous year, and indicating the method according to which future operations should be conducted. He recommended that no permanent Bub-Com missioners should be employed, but that drafts should be drawn when required, as by private individuals, the remuneration being in each case proportioned to the service. For this course the reasons assigned were :-1. The difficulty of securing in any other way the services of the ablest professional persons. 2. The impossibility of finding any one equally familiar with all parts of the law. 3. The, probably, temporary nature of the occupation, for which individuals successful in their pro fession would not be inclined to abandon it. He advised also an immediate selection of subjects on which bills should be prepared under the direction of the Board. And he subjoined a list of statutes, or rather of groups of statutes, needing consolidation, where one bill might be usefully made to represent many— e.g., " Election of M.P's., 185 Act s :" " Excise, 120 ;" Stamps, 130 ;" Poor Law, 120 ;" " High ways, &c., 71," "Municipal Corporations 00;" •1••••••NommiiMINIIIII