The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-30 00:00:00

JULY 30, 1853.

THE SALT DEBATE.

SALTED FOR PRESERVATION.

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON moved that the East India Company be
ordered to obey the law. They monopolised salt in India, and the
consequence was that the native, to whom it was more necessary than
to anybody else, had only half as much salt as other people ; and forty
per cent. of what he bought was dirt, for which he paid exactly fifty
times as much as the English peasant paid for a good article. There
was his ease, in a nutshell.

Sir CHARLES WOOD (playfialy ): Then it should be settled in a
crack. Ha! ha! Sir J. Pakiugton's constituents made salt, therefore
it Was clear Sir John was unfit to say whether a Hiudno ought to eat
it or not. Besides, Sir John had shown sympathy for the British
fanner, therefore it was strange ho should have any for the Indian
agriculturist. Lastly, the Company did not care which way the matter
went, therefore it was obvious that it ought to remain as it was.
Mr. J. PHILLIMORE said he had been called a schoolboy. He had
been so once, and had read in his Latin grammar that surgere gal
überri►nusu est. This meant that a rise in salt was a very fertile source
of profit to the Company. He had some other Latin quotations handy,
but he would not repeat them then.
Sir JAMES HOGG said that it was all stuff and nonsense to say that
an Indian wanted salt, when he could get ghee, and putully-nautch,
and bangles, and saluamaleikoom, and other condiments, all of which
he assured the House, for he knew India, were very nice to eat. But
people talked about what they did nut understand. Sir James then
eulogised the Directors for about an hour and twenty minutes, and
expressed a hope that he had refuted Sir J. Pakington.
Mr. HuME said that he had been in the House a great number of
years, and that the subject was very important, and, as expressly con-
nected with it, he was very desirous to explain to the House the real
history of the republics of South America. (Oh, oh ! ) Well, they
might cry " Oh," but South America was a continent, and so was Asia,
and the same rules of supply and demand would govern both. He
concluded several times, and finally sat down.
Mr. LowE observed that a whole lot of things had been said, but
what was the odds so long as none of them had anything to do with
the question? Salt was salt; if it was good it wits good, and if it was
bad it was bad, he supposed ; and if a man bought bad salt, thinking
it was good, he was in the same category as a nmn who bought good
salt thinking it was bad Very well, then, if bad was bad, and good
was good, and the consumer of the good was equally affected with the
consumer of the bad, the argument of the Hon. Baronet fell to the
ground, and the least said the soonest mended. (At least so we under-
stood the Hon. Member; but the frightful pace at which his tongue
went baffled all short-hand.)
Mr. DANBY SEYMOUR said that ho had been at Eton, and hail seen
a Montem, and must therefore know all about salt. At least he knew
no other reason why he should speak on this subject or any other.
(Approbation )
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that neither in Magna Chart'', nor in the
Bill of Rights, documents which had been framed by very shrewd
statesmen, was there any provision fan• reducing the price of salt in
India. Therefore he was obleeged to assume that such reduction was
foreign to the theory of the Constitution. But there was another
argument, not less cogent, and that was this. If you give the Hindoo
cheap salt, and thereby he eats so much that he gets thirsty, how was
that thirst to be quenched in a land where water was not plentiful?
Were Hon. Gentlemen prepared to go to the Hon. Member for Derby,
and ask him to export additional supplies of pale ale? (Laughter.)
Well, but if not, what did they mean to do ? He thought no ease had
been made out for departing from a course which he was authorised to
state was laid down by Providence for the direction of India, and
therefore, whatever might be the result of the division, he should have
the satisfaction of knowing that he and his colleagues had done their
best for the conservatism of those principles which had so long and so
triumphantly upheld the mighty empire entrusted to us.
Mr. DISRAELI replied : This question was not one of mere money.
(Mr. Lowe : Ain't it?) There wits a great principle involved in it—
(Mr. Lowe : Lor! you don't say so!)—and it must be considered in
reference to that principle. (Mr. Lowe : How about interest?) The
Hon. Member for Kidderminster would find his advantage in studying
a little volume—he believed the price was one shilling—entitled the
"Book of Etiquette." It contained some instructive suggestions in
reference to interrupting other persons while speaking. Mr. Lowe
thenceforth remaining tolerably silent, Mr. Disraeli finished his argu-
ment, and in a quarter of an hour more the Government were defeated
by a majority of ten ! probably the first of a series of lessons in deci-
mals now in preparation for them.