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

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
oath 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
promised 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
in 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-