The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS

That your petitioners find it difficult to conceive
that the same independence, in judgment and act,
which characterises the Court of Directors will be found
in any council all of whose members are nominated by
the Crown.
That your petitioners are equally unable to perceive
how, if the controlling body is entirely nominated by the
Minister, that happy independence of parliamentary and
party influence which has hitherto distinguished the
administration of India, and the appointment to situations
of trust and importance in that country, can be expected
to continue. Your petitioners believe that in no Govern-
ment known to history have appointments to offices, and
especially to high offices, been so rarely bestowed on any
other considerations than those of personal fitness.
That, without knowing the plan on which her Majesty's
Ministers contemplate the transfer to the Crown of the
servants of the Company, your petitioners find themselves
unable to approach the delicate question of tLe Indian
army, further than to point out that the high military
qualities of the officers of that army have unquestionably
sprung, in a great degree, from its being a principal and
substantive army, holding her Majesty's commissions
and enjoying equal rank with her Majesty's officers, and
your petitioners would earnestly deprecate any change in
that position.
That your petitioners, having regard to all these con-
siderations, humbly pray your honourable house that you
will not give your sanction to any change in the constitu-
tion of the Indian Government during the continuance of
the present unhappy disturbances, nor without a full pre-
vious inquiry into the operation of the present system.
And your petitioners farther pray that this inquiry may
extend to every department of Indian administration.
Such an inquiry your petitioners respectfully claim, not
only as a matter of justice to themselves, but because
when, for the first time in this century, the thoughts of
every public man in the country are fixed on India, an
inquiry would be more thorough, and its results would
carry much more instruction to the mind of Parliament
and of the country than at any preceding period.
After the reading of this document, the adjourned
debate was resumed by Mr. Jones, who was followed
by Sir Lawrence Peel and Captain Eastwick, in
defence of the Company.
The debate was again adjourned until Wednesday
next.

lortign al* Colonial ]ntelligente.

FRANCE.

OPENING OF THE FRENCH CHAMBERS.
The Legislative Chambers were opened on Monday
last, by his Imperial Majesty the Emperor Napoleon
111. in person. His Majesty delivered the following
address:—

Gentlemen, Senators, and Deputies,
At the annual meeting of the Chambers I render you an
account of what has taken place duriug your absence, and
I ask your support for the measures to be taken.
Since last year the Government has followed its regular
and progreseive march, exempt from all vain ostentation.
It has often been pretended that to govern France it was
necessary continnally to keep the public mind alive with
some great theatrical display. I think, on the contrary,
that it suffices to endeavour exclusively to do good to de-
serve the confidence of the country. The action of the
Government has consequently been confined to doing what
was most necessary in the different branches of the ad-
ministration.
In the interests of agriculture, the exportation of and the
&filiation from grain have again been authorised,and the
import of the Bank has given support to the landed
interest. The cultivation of the landes has commenced.
In Public Works, the moat important results are 1,330
kilometres of railway, thrown open in 1f457 to traffic, and
2,600 kilometres of new lines granted for construction ;
the floating-dock of St. Nezaire, and the canal from Csen
to the sea thrown open to navigation; careful surveys made
to prevent the scourge of inundations; improvement of our
ports, and among others those of Havre, Marseilles,
Toulon, and Bayonne ; in the north and in the east of
France the working of new coal mines ; at Paris the
inauguration of the Louvre and of a wing at Vincennes;
finally, in the capital, as at Lyons, quarters throwu open
for the first time since centuries to the light of day, and
throughout France religions edifices are being constructed
or restored.
Public instruction, protected by the State, is being de-
veloped by the side of free education honourably protected.
The number of colleges has been increased by 1,500.
Education has become more moral and religious, with a
tendency towards sound humanities and useful sciences.
The College of France has been reorganised; elementary
instruction is spreading far.
It is the wish of the Government that the principle of
freedom of worship shall he sincerely admitted, without
forgetting that the Roman Catholic religion is that of the
great majority of Frenchmen. Therefore, this religion has
never been more respected nor more unshackled.
The Municipal Councils meet without hindrance, and
the Bishops enjoy the fall plenitude of their sacred office.
The Lutheran, Protestant, and Jewish confessions pay
their just proportion of taxes to the State, and are equally
protected.
The increase in the price of all necessaries has com-
pelled us since lest year to augment the eateries of the
lesser functionaries ; the rations of the soldiers have been
improved and the pay of subalterns increased.
The budget of IMO provides for better payment for
teachers and professore. and for magistrates. I may point
out an increase of charitable societies—in the country
those of the medical corporations, and in the towns the