The Press.
London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

314


system, and merely to replace it by a small
Board of Crown-nominees, would surely seem
strange.

We doubt not, then, that the House of
Commons, or any other body of Englishman,
would unhesitatingly declare that it considered
eighteen to be a better number than eight for
the Council ; and that it approved of some in•
fusion of the representative principle.
But we now approach the real difficulty of
the case, and that which constitutes, iu fact,
the only peril of the present Bill.
In applying the principle of representation,
two things are desirable. First, to bring into
the Council a large amount of Indian know-
ledge and experience; but, secondly, to have
also some members of English, nut Indian
feelings, who would prevent the Council from
being wholly ruled by the " old Indian " prej u-

dices. The Board of Directors has been
accustomed to welcome such men as Mr.
RIIBBIiLT, ELLICE, Mr. MASTERMAN, or Mr.
Mum, as cordially as it did the most dis-
tinguished men from Calcutta or Madras.
Bearing this in mind, therefore, we do not at

all wonder that the Government, in construct-

ing its representative system, gave four seats
to the representatives of East India stock, and
five seats to the representatives of the great
commercial towns. Still, the choice of great
public officials by the ten-pounders of Liver-
pool and Glasgow strikes many as a novelty ;
and it is, in truth, the one point of the Bill
which excites the greatest amount of hostile
criticism.

Now, surely, if the House of Commons

approves of the Bill of the present Govern-
ment, as to these two great points, that the
strength of the Council should be eighteen,
rather than eight, and that some portion of
the Council should be elected, rather than
nominated, there can be no reason why the
Government should show any pertinacity in

adhering to the single point of giving the
choice of five members to the great commer-
cial towns. The offer has been made; and if
the representatives of the commercial class in
the present House of Commons do not receive
that offer with any warmth or unanimity, we
should anticipate that Ministers will consider
themselves open to consider any other propo-
sition which might command a larger amount
of support.
A word or two on this point. Nine mem-
bers of the Council, we will suppose, are to be
elected by some kind of constituency. If the

plan submitted by M. DISRAELI 18 not

thought quite satisfactory, let the most saga-
cious minds in Parliament see if they can
suggest anything better.
A correspondent, who himself sat in the
House of Commons during many years, sends
us a letter, which we piint in another column,
recommending that the whole Council should
be elected by the votes of the members of both
Houses of Parliament. But this plan would
undoubtedly be objected to by many, as
stripping the Crown, unwisely, of a large por-
tion of its prerogative.
Another idea which has been thrown out is,
that the Crown should nominate six mem-
bers, the House of Lords six members, and
the House of Commons six members ; thus
making up the number of eighteen.
But a third plan, which has less of novelty
about it, and might therefore pass with less of

opposition, adheres to the outline given in the
present Bill, that the Crown should nominate
nine members, and that the other nine should
Pe elected. Only, instead of the apportionment

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