The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

98

chauli of familiar facts, not always very ac•
curately stated, and irresistibly impressing on
the hearer's mind au idea that by Sir CHARLES,
though by no one else, these commonplaces
were regarded in the light of notable disco-
veries. No American stump orator ever ranged
over a wider field, or brought in a greater mass
of irrelevant and trivial matter. First came a
disquisition on the necessity of instant legisla-
tion, the whole purport of which might have
been summed up in the old copy-bouk text,
" Delays are dangerous?' Why they should be
dangerous in this instance Sir CHARLES declined
to state ; but he quoted—as disinterested wit
nesses of course—first the Directors, and next
the editor of a Government newspaper in India.
Fancy Lord ABERDEEN appealing to the Morn-
ing Chronicle to prove that public opinion was
with him! This introductory preface occupied
half an hour ; and then came the real ques-
tion, " Has India progressed or stood still ? "
The Minister proposed this query, but he
wisely forbore to solve it All the tenor of
his argument went to vindicate the Company
from every charge brought against its ad-
ministration ; yet he wisely shrank from
drawing the conclusion at which he hinted.
Not a little ingenuity was displayed in making
the best of a bad case. " Law in India was
" costly, tedious, full of technicality ; but,
" then, look at our own Court of Chancery.
" Roads were not as good as they might be ;
" but the Government of Madras had once
" voted money to mend them, though that
" money, it was true, had been otherwise
" expended. As to employing natives, why, it
" was a notorious fact that whenever• a native
" was appointed to any office his countrymen
" were displeased. The land tenures"—we will
carry our abstract nu farther; for those who
want to see what Sir• C. WOOD thinks of land
tenures will find the same thoughts much
better expressed by Mr. KATE.
After three hours thus wasted, the Minister
came to his plan. Of this the outline is sim-
ple, and, as it seems to us on a first glance,
wholly unsatisfactory. The double govern-
ment is maintained in its integrity. The Di-
reetors are reduced to eighteen : twelve to be
appointed by the Company, and six by the
Crown. The latter must qualify for their ap-
pointments by ten years of civil or military
services in India. Their pay is augmented.
but still inadequate. All the military patron-
age—a vast proportion of the whole—is re-
tained in their hands, thus perpetuating, per-
haps, the worst abuse of the actual system ;
while the civil patronage, more wisely, is
given to be competed for by public examina-
tion.
Time is wanting to examine this scheme in
all it►s bearings ; but, if we may judge by the
first impression produced both on the House
and on ourselves, we predict empathically that
IT WILL NOT DO.

MINISTERIAL FINANCE.
Tut Lone CHANCELLOR has announced in
the House of Lords, that, having been misled
by his colleague the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER to consent to the conversion of the
funds of the suitors of the Court of Chancery
into the new stocks, and having since dis-
covered that the proceeding would be one
very unjust and injurious to his clients in the
present state of the money market. it was his
intention to revoke the order for conversion
that he had given. Such a public censure on
the schemes of a financial minister is not on
previous record; and it is supposed that the
two Chancellors will not continue to sit in the
same Cabinet. The Treasury will be called
upon to take up immediately three millions
sterling in Exchequer bills, and in due time
to provide for about seven millions sterling.
to complete the conversion of the South Sea
Stock. It is supposed in the City that a loan
of upwards of ten millions will have to be
raised, at a high rate of interest. One of the
reasons urged by the Government in tlivour of
the financial scheme was, that it would reduce
the various descriptions of small stocks, which
had been found very inconvenient in the ma-
nnement of our finances. The CHANCELLOR

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