The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

• His Lordship proceeded to stamp the nomi nation of Mr. KEOGH as discreditable on " account of the position in which during the " whole course of the elections in 1852 he had " placed himself," and his Lordship referred particularly to Mr. KEOGH'S astounding declara tion at Athlone. And recollecting, also, the subsequent his tory of the Brass Band, it is impossible not to be struck with the penetrating sagacity of Lord DERBY in the following remark. Refer ring to the lenient treatment given by the Irish law officers to the priestly rioters in the sanguinary affray at Six-mile Bridge, Lord DERBY said : When the time comes I shall say that the course pursued by the law officers of the Crown (Mr. Brewster and Mr. W. Keogh) gives a signal corroboration to the opinion that offences which have been committed, provided they have been committed by persons who have a certain political influence, will be lightly treated. We do not know whether "my dear Duke of NEWCASTLE " would still be inclined to taunt the Earl of FOLINGTOUN with his Lordship's remarks on the appointment of Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH. JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN INDIA. THE first and second Reports of her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the reform of the judicial establishments, judicial procedure, and laws of India, have now been laid before Parliament, and we purpose to offer some comments on the suggestions they contain. But before doing so we shall explain as briefly as possible what the actual system is that they were called upon to reform. In India, then, there are two descrip tions of courts, the Queen's and the Com pany's. There are, to be sure, the small-cause courts at the Presidency capitals in addition, superintended usually by barristers ; but these are minor affairs of an exclusively civil nature, and whose business is confined to the adjudication of petty-debt cases, like that of the county courts in this country. The Queen's Courts in India are called the Su preme Courts of Judicature, and were first established by Parliament in 1773, to correct the monstrous evils then prevailing in India, and which were foreseen. The first was estab lished at Calcutta, and consisted of a chief justice, and three puisne judges, and was eat p mered (we are quoting IVlLsos's " Continua tion of Mill") to administer in India all the departments of the English law. It was a court of common law, and a court of equity ; a court of oyer and terminer, and general gaol delivery ; an ecclesiastical court, and a court of admiralty. In civil cases its jurisdiction extended to all claims against the Company and against British subjects, and to all such claims of British subjects against the natives as the party in the contract under dispute had agreed, in case of dispute, to submit to its decision. In affairs of penal law its powers extended to British subjects, and to another class of persons who were described as all persons directly or indirectly in the service of the Company or of any British subject at the time of the offence. It may be here as well for us to remark that in India the term Bri tish subject bears a local meaning different from its ordinary one, as it excludes natives who are in allegiance to her Majesty, and embrace only persons who were born in Great Britain, or who are of pure or mixed British descent. It may also be observed that the rendering natives who were in the service of the Company, or of British subjects, amenable to the new court, was essential to its effi ciency for the purposes in view; because otherwise the Company and Britons living in India under licences issued by it, which all were then compelled to have, might still have continued ther career of crime and spoliation unchecked, the only difference being that they would thenceforth have had to do through native agency what they had hitherto done directly themselves. As to other natives, it was left optional with them to allow their suits to be decided in the Supreme Courts or not, excepting, of course, those natives actually dwelling within their immediate pre cincts at the Presidency Capitals. These were rendered entirely amenable to their jurisdic- • .... THE PRESS. tion in all matters, whether civil or criminal, as they had been amenable to the prede cessors of the Supreme Courts—the Mayors' Courts—established by Royal Charter in the year 1726. No sooner had the first Supreme Court of Judicature thus established begun to en deavour to fulfil the ends proposed from it — in conferring on native complainants the bene fits of actual and practical relief against in. justice—than a loud outcry sprang up among the officials, whether native or European, on every side. The revenue was said to be en dangered by its interference, and the state of disorganisation was described as quite de plorable. But as the Company and its ser vants, or dependants, were the only parties whose representations could find their way to England, very little reliance can be placed on the statements that were thus sent home. Making some allowance for the natural inex perience of the first appointed judges, there is no doubt that any little difficulties attending the working at the outset would soon have worn off, and the result of the continuance of the Supreme Court on its then footing, and the gradual extension of its jurisdiction over every province thereafter acquired, would have been productive of vast and lasting good. For it must be remembered that the same complaints were made by the Indian Govern ments of the check given to their proceedings by the Mayors' Courts, on their first establish ment, exactly half a century before. Then, too, the Councils complained that the Courts encroached upon their authority, and the Courts complained that they were oppressed by the Councils. The most violent dissen• sions, says MILL, prevailed, and many of the members of the Mayors' Courts quitted the service, and went home with their animosities and complaints. If the light check upon mis rule introduced by men in the Company's own service had thus proved so unbearable—Courts over which the Governors in Council had an appellate control what might we expect would be the sensation at being held in order by the iron arm of judges wholly independent of them, and appointed directly by the Crown ? It is a fact well known in history that it was the flaunting extravagance of these nabobs, as they were called, more than anything else, that first attracted the notice of the Ministers and the public so prominently to India, and led to those damaging inquiries into the modes in which money was made there that are so familiar to us all. Nor were their masters in England any better. The India house was powerful, the Ministry was weak. Lord NORTH, who did more mischief to Eng land by his good nature than any other Minis ter had ever done by the worst misconduct, yielded ; and just before resigning office in 1782, he passed a bill exempting from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court the Governor General and Council, all matters of revenue, and all zemindars and other native farmers, and collectors of the revenue. In the position then fixed, with but trifling altera tions since, the Supreme Courts have stood from those days to the present time. The exemption of the Governor-General and Council personally from their jurisdiction was reasonable and judicious, but the exempting all revenue matters, and all zemindars and other farmers, and native collectors of the revenue, was productive of the most fatal fruits ; and, indeed, was the parent of that impunity under which the torture system sprung up and flourished to the enormous extent which recent revelations have dis closed. We shall proceed to review the Com pany's judicial system in our next issue. THE PREMIER AND HIS " BOSOM FRIEND." No lass a personage than the Premier has figured vicariously at the hustings of Sligo in the last few days. Lord PALMERSTON has a large property near the town, and has besides house property in the borough, A couple of years since JOHN SADLEIR, aided by a priest, a double barrelled gun, a vast mob, and boundless corruption, defeated Lord PAL MERSTON'S own candidate. When SADLEIR killed himself, Mr. JOHN PATRICK SOMERS again started for the seat. SATURDAY, The address of that gentleman on the hust ings deserves notice. Instead of a fowling. piece with two barrels, Mr. SOMERS astonished the nerves of the electors with a Parliamen tary " great gun" ; of high calibre. " He" (tile Prime Minister), said Mr. J. P. SOMERS, " i t "my bosom friend. I acknowledge that Tam " here as his candidate—l may say his nomi " nee. I admit—l will not disguise the fact." This is certainly a wonderfully frank confes sion. The speech was inatutinal, and not post prandial, and was delivered by daylight. If it had been an after-dinner burst of Irish ora tory, it would have been pardoned, cheered, an forgotten. But it was spoken when re porters were present, and in the presence of the honourable candidate's opponents. The Premier is only too apt to quote CANNING, whose words he remembers, but whose prin ciples he forgets. He might probably, on perusing the oration of Mr. SOMERS, have re collected CANNING} St lines on a " candid friend," and with a slight alteration have ex claimed— Of all the plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send, Save—save—oh ! save me, from the bosom friend. But Mr. SOMERS did nit stop there. He contributed some interesting facts to the political history of his own times. Alluding to his former contest against the Coalition candidate (JOHN SADLEIR), and the petitions against his return, the honourable candidate stated, " I refused the offer of ten thousand " pounds ten times over" (the offer being made for his withdrawing the petition against SADLEIR). He then proceeded : " I was asked " to write down what I would have, and I " would have—" Here we must pause. The situation was intensely dramatic. There was what critics call " compound action" in the scene. There was the table in the middle ; the anxious SO LEIR at one side, the patriot SOMERS at the other side, and the virtuous COPPOCK as arbi trator between them, while the Lords of the Coalition were in the background. But Mr. SOMERS would have—nothing. Other Irish patriots cried "No taxes," "No tithes," "No rent," but there was more grandeur and sim plicity in the cry of the Cato of Sligo—" No nothing;" and, unlike other raisers of cries, the Honourable Gentleman seems to have got " nothing." He then proceeded : " Mr. TOWNE " LEY'S agent, Mr COPPOCK, said to me write " down what sum you walit.' " But Mr. SOMERS declined to be " Coppocked." He scouted the proposal, and would not sell Sligo to please any clique. His statement was loudly cheered, and caused sensation at Sligo and in London. How Lord PALMERSTON and Mr. J. COPPOCE liked it, we do not know ; but we shall proba bly hear more about it. It may be necessary to explain how the name of Mr. TOWNELEY of Towneley came into contact with Sligo electioneering. Mr• TOWNELEY is a Roman Catholic, and (we need scarcely add) an English commoner of high rank. He was induced to go into Parliament for Sligo, and, in promoting his return, Mr. (ex -Judge) STONOR (the Duke of NEWCASTLE ' S client) distinguished himself so much as to cull for the notice of a Parliamentary Com mittee. In drawing up their report the com mittee expressed their regret that a gentleman like Mr. TOWNELEY had been in anyway associated with such proceedings. We con cur in that sentiment ; but there are some par• ties who may be surprised that the Premiers own borough should be so outrageously pro minent in the scandals of Irish electioneering. In the meanwhile the election proceeded, and Lord PALMERSTON'S " bosom,friehd " and " nominee" was signally defeated. For six teen years the town of Sligo was in the hands of the Liberals, but the history of the Brass Band effectually disgusted them. Thirty-one Roman Catholics refused to vote for Lord PAnmEasToN's " bosom friend," and more than that number voted for the Conservative can didate, the Right Hon. JOHN WYNNE, of Hazle wood, who was elected by a majority o f 148 to 117. Mr. WYNNE has a rising reputation as a practical official of sound political views. He discharged the duties of Under Secretary. in Ireland during Lord DERBY'S tenure of office, with tact and courtesy. It is likely that he will be a valuable addition to the Legislature. II