The Press.
London, England, 1856-06-28 00:00:00

SLEEPING STATUTES DILL.

Earl FORTESCUE moved the second reading of this
bill, and explained that it would deal with 120 sta-
tutes from the 13th Edward I. to 17th George 111.
Lord CAMPBELL observed that the bill would help
to purge the statute-book from a mass of excrescent
legislation, and the noble lord was entitled to the
thanks of the public for introducing it.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said the measure had his
entire concurrence. He believed that to send it to
a select committee would be a sheer waste of valu-
able time.

The Marquis of SALISBURY protested against pass-
ing laws 01 the highest importance without the
house being furnished with the documents and evi-
dence on which they were based.
The second reading was agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—TUESDAY.
NAWAB OF SURAT'S TREATY BILL.
Sir F. KELLY moved the third reading of this bill,
and observed, that after the unanswerable speech of
the right hon. gentleman the member for Oxford
(Mr. Cardwell), in the debate on Wednesday last,
no doubt could be entertained that the East India
Company had bound themselves to pay an annuity
to the Nawab of Surat and his heirs. The Board of
Control had admitted the justice of the claim, and it

was the East India Company alone who disputed it.
Sir J. W. Hoot-, rose to move that the bill should
be read a third time that day three months, and de-
clared that if the Government had come to the con-
clusion which the hon. and learned gentleman had
intimated, they ought to be ashamed of themselves,
for every Government for the last ten years had in-
sisted upon a totally different view. Lord Ellen-
borough, Lord Hardinge, Lord Ripon, Lord Brough-
ton, and Sir Charles Wood had all held that this
claim had no foundation, either in law or equity ;
and that if the claim were now conceded the effect
would be to withhold the provision now made to
those members of the late Nawab's family, whose
rights as heirs general had been judicially declared.
The house had been told that terms of compromise
bad been placed before the Court of Directors ; but the
court would have nothing to do with them, because
they were grossly unjust to absent parties. It was true
he had given his support to the second reading of
the bill, for which he was now very sorry, but he had
been coerced into doing so by the Government ex-
pressing a wish to support the second reading in
order that the matter might be afterwards in some
other form arranged. He had been deceived, and he
never would depend again upon anything so slippery
as the support of Government.
Mr. V. SMITH retorted that the greater part of the
embarrassment he !Mr. Smith) felt arose from his
having rested upon the slippery support of the
directors. His hon. friend was in the habit of
assuming that the East India Direction was himself,
and the house was in the habit of attending to him
as if he spoke on behalf of the whole court. He
(Mr. V. Smith) in his position had no means of
communication with the Court of Directors, except
by correspondence with the chairman and deputy-
chairman, and ho could state that in every step he
had taken those gentlemen completely agreed. But,
after all, the whole question lay in a small compass.
The only point they had to consider was whether it
ought to be treated as a legal or as a political ques-
tion. He contended that it ought to be treated as a
political question; and therefore it was that he dis-
sented from the gentlemen who sat upon the corn.
mittee, because they bad looked upon the treaty as a
legal question only. As to the matter of compro-
mise, the Court of Directors objected to the proposi-
tion. That proposed compromise was, in his view,
nothing but an extension of a previous compromise.
If the Court of Directors bad been anxious to come
to some decision upon this question they would
have fairly stated it; but their rejection of his pro-
posal was so complete that he bad nothing to do but
to consider the case as it stood. Upon the whole
matter he could only say, on the part of the Govetn•
ment, that he had acted with the utmost frankness,
his only desire being that the parties making this
claim should be dealt with in a spirit of the utmost
generosity, and he thought that the best course