The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 20, 1858.

se jeopardised by official imbecility and Ministerial cor-
ruption.
The lion. baronet was loudly cheered on resuming
bis seat.
Lord J. Russ/tax, arguing in favour of immediate
legislation, on the ground that we had legislated on
the Catholic question while Ireland was on the verge
of a civil war, for parliamentary reform when the
whole country was bursting with tumult, and for the
corn laws when the public mind was far from ten-
tlni!, could not consent to leave this matter in doubt
for another year. Whatever might be the perils of
dealing with this great subjert, he saw no alternative
but to look it in the face, and to come to a solution
of as large a question as ever came before that house
--What was the system of Government that would
best secure the welfare of a great empire, and the
•lippiness of millions of people ? He trusted they
wooed do that duty well; he was sure they could not
avoid it. The late mutiny had necessitated great
changes. The native army could not be restored,
and India must be garrisoned by a large force of
British troops, consisting of Queen's regiments. The
military power would then belong to the Crown, and
the political power should go with it. Contending
that the transfer of authority from the Company to
the Crown was inevitable, the noble lord indicated
some particulars in which he desired to see the pre
sent bill amended. He wished to secure the inde-
pendence of the proposed council, to pres2rve the
Indian service unvitiated by favouritism or corrupt
patronage, and to rescue the important questions of
Indian policy from the contests of party in that house.
Mr. DISRAELI was surprised that Lord John
Russell, with so full an acquaintance with this
subject, and so profound a conviction of this immi-
nent peril, had not in 1453 thought fit to call the
attention of his colleagues to so serious a state of
affairs. Nor did he feel that the noble lord was par-
ticularly happy in the argument he urged and the
illustration he offered to show that this is the time
for legislation respecting India, for last year no one
was so strong, he might even say so violent, as the
noble lord, in impressing upon the house that until
the insurrection was completely put down it was idle
to investigate its causes, and that all the energy of
the country ought to be devoted to its suppression.
He (Nlr. Disraeli) had long been of opinion that
it was a matter of high policy the relations between
the Sovereign of these realms and the inhabitants of
India should be drawn more near and rendered more
direct; but turning his attention to the measure of
the Premier, he felt convinced that its effect would
be quite the contrary. He wished the house, before
it came to a vote upon the question before them, to
consider how the bill would operate financially.
There was a bill already on the table for raising
money for the service of India, and it was idle to
talk of a difference between English and Indian
finance. It was idle to say that the payments would
be made from the Indian revenue; but the credit of
England was at stake it' the revenues of India did
not meet the demands. Let them look at the
finances of the two countries. A return before the
house showed that there was a chronic deficit in
India of about 2,000,0001., and they were to have in
future 92,000 of her Majesty's troops in India, or
52,000 in excess of the established number. The
estimated cost of this force would be about four or
five millions, and deducting from this one moiety,
the cost of the abolished Bengal army, and they had
a deficit of at least four millions sterling. Had they
in this country such a satisfactory state of finance as
would justify the passing of this bill then? Why,
he would not take seven millions to pay the deficit
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer would intro-
duce in the course of a month. Under these cir-
cumstances, before undertaking any liability in regard
to India, they ought to make themselves masters of
the resources of India, of the means by which that
revenue A raised, and the expenditure controlled,
and unless they were prepared to do this, and to
manage the resources carefully, all the effect of this
bill would be that they would have to pay the ex-
penses of a distant Government over which they had
no control, and the course of which would inevitably
aggravate all those injurious consequences which it
was imagined this act would terminate. What they
wanted was a change in the administration in India
itself; they wanted to put an end to the power
which created deficits; they wanted to raise the
revenue; and they wanted to modify the tenure of
land, to bring native money into the cultivation of
the soil. They were beginning at the wrong end.
When they put an end to the mutiny, they should
have sent out a royal commission, with full powers
to provide remedies in the matters to which we had
referred, and to reorganise the Indian army. If they
agreed to the proposition of the Government, what
would be its result ? When it was proposed in 1853
that one-third of the directors should be nominated
by the Crown, he objected, on the ground that they
would have no security for the independence of the
council ;---

There seemed to be for independence and knowledge
two qualities which were indispensable, no security but
permanency. ( Hear.) That I thought a vital objection
to the bill of and if it were a vital objection to that
bill by which only one-third of the directors or councillors
were j.o be Government nominees, what shall we say of a
proposition according to which all the members of the
council are to be nominees ? ( Hear.) How will this
work? What will be the inevitable course, the influence
which it will exercise upon the real government of India,
and the fatal reaction which it will have upon the fortunes
of this country? The Government nominees, according
to the plan proposed by the Government, cannot be inde-
pendent. Far from independence, there is every element
of dependence provided. ( Hear, hear.) We do not even
see them in this house. They are secluded from the con-
stitutional criticism of Parliament. What will be the in-
fluence of the:nominees upon the President of the Council ?
Why, sir, they will have that influence upon their superior
which inferiors generally exercise: They will have no in.
fluenco unless they pander to his interests—( Hear
hear )—and none will be commended, none will be looked
upon as assiduous and el.ergetic except those who are his
assiduous supporters, and those who are active to accom-
plish the purposes of the Government. It requires no
argument to prove that, so far as influence is concerned,
they will sink into that insignificant position which is the
inevitable lot of persons placed in such circumstances ;
they will become completely the creatures of the Minister,
who will be able to rid himself of them whenever he likes.
A plausible Minister could get rid of his eight nominee
councillors in twenty-four hours.
But suppose that a Minister for India with eminent
talents, great experience, and unrivalled energy is
obtained, what will be his position ?

With all the demands that will be made upon him, and
these will be the greater in proportion to the brilliancy of
his qualities and the energy of his mind, what 'ill be the
position of this President of the Indian Council when he
has to transact the business of twenty five nations in Hirt-
dostan ? (Hear, hear.) Why, sir, there is no intellect
that will not sink perplexed and overwhelmed under the
burden. ( Hear.) And what will be the consequences ?
Everybody in this house must know. He will have to
trust entirely to the Governor-General. (Hear.) It will
be impossible for the English Minister to grapple with the
details of Indian administration, snit what then will be
the position of the Governor-General? You think you
will have obtained Indian reform by this bill ; while, in
point of fact, it never touches Indian administration on
the other side of the ocean. The Governor-General may
be an able and an ambitious wan, and he may be desirous,
as most men are, that his name should be talked of and
remembered. He will embark, perhaps, in conquests or
in great works, and take care that his administration is
brilliant and famous. The expenditure of India will in-
crease every year, because the Governor-General will
depend upon the admirably-conceived and highly-gifted
labours of the civil servants in India, and they will support
and assist him so long as he supports and assists them,
and so long as he depends on the revenue raised by the
proconsular system which they uphold. They will sup-
port the Governor• General so long as he carries out the
system of Government now established in India—s system
which may have been admirably devised and admirably
suited to the condition of ladle, hut which if adopted by
this country will soon have such an effect on our finances
that I believe it will not be a question whether we shall
rule India, but whether we shall ruin the country. ( Hear,
hear.) But is that all ? May we not have a Minister at
home, who, though not able to grapple with the details
of Indian administration, as no one man can, will be an
able man, capable of taking general views, and who will
not allow the Governor-General to pursue his csreer with-
out some notice being taken of it in a fine historical
despatch, such as no one could write better than the
noble lord the member for London? (A laugh.) How
will the Governor-General, in such circumstances, manage

a suspicious administration in London ? He will place at
the disposal of the Minister the patronage of India.
(Cheers.) Whenever there is one to be rewarded or got
rid of in a moment of emergency, in such exigent circum-
stances the Government will know there is an all-powerful
friend who will assist them in the person of the Governor-
General of India. ( Hear, hear.) But when the Governor-
General has favoured all your creatures ; when in hundreds
of cases you are placed in difficult and dangerous circum-
stances, and his power and patronage have always been
reedy to save you, can you call that Governor-General to
account ? (Cheers.) Will lie not be the possessor of a
supremacy of power such as I should be sorry to see any
English subject command ? (Hear, hear.) The conse-
quence will be that, instead of a change which would draw
nearer. the relations between the inhabitants of Hindostan
and England, 3ou will have a law that will produce exclu-
sion and estrangement upon a great scale. (Hear, hear.)
Instead of a law that will allow you to breathe a new spirit
into our Indian administration, and elect wholesome and
regenerating measures, you will have an abyss established
between this metropolis and Calcutta that no man will ever
be strong enough or bold enough to pass. (Cheers.)
The financial question, he repeated, must be met,
and how, be asked, were we, who found so much
difficulty in adjusting our expenditure to our means,
to provide for an enormous deficiency in India ? lie
insisted That it was not time to legislate for India
until we had a much more matured plan of legisla-
tion :

Till w•e hare complete possession of the resources of
India in India—till we have the means of avuilingourselves
of its resources—dill we have taken the steps that arc
necessary to increase those resources, and place them in a
sound and healthy cordition, do not let us take a course
which is not transferring the government of India from
the Company to the Queen, but is only transferring the

177

patronage of the Company to the Government in Downing•
street.

Hitherto India had not been a subject of general
interest in that house ; but for that then was a very
simple and satisfactory reason—" Englishmen have
never yet had to pay for India " :
That is the secret why India has never produced any
interest in this house. Questions of cowl/rest, questions
of annexation, and even questions of rebellion, the greatest
rebellion that has ever happened in this empire, last year
hardly commanded attention because hon. gentlemen, full
of confidence in the Ministry and in their good stars, went
out into the lobby and said, Never the Company
will have to pay for it." (A laugh.) Sir, I think that
delusion is gone for ever. I don't think, after this bill
shall have passed, that there is one among us who will fail
to see that there is a complete identity between India and
Englishmen. Of all the delusions ever practised in Parlia-
ment was that arrangement of P4.):3, which afforded the
House of Commons an opportunity of hearing an India
budget. (A laugh.) An Indian budget detailing the for-
tunes and progress of the emnire was a subject not likely
t) contribute much to the edification of the house, and
who could be surprised that the Minister could not com-
mand a house to listen to the lucid harrative ? ( A laugh.)
But what I want to impress on the house is, that those days
of Paradise are over. We may in future misgovern India,
but in future we shall have to pay for it. ( Hear, hear.l We
have been discussing these affairs for three or four nights,
hut what hon. gentleman has descended from the high
Empyrean of politics to touch on this vulgar point? De-
pend upon it, however, it will more and more develop
itself until it acquires colossal proportions, and if you
wish to take a prudent step and seize the opportunity of
examining your position before incurring fresh responsibili-
ties, I recommend you to wait till yon have seen the budget
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer before involving your-
self in the Indian expenditure. (Cheers.)
Lord PALMERSTON, in reply, observed that so far
from the bill proposed establishing a complete
identity between the finances of India an.l those of
England, "it would, on the contrary, render the
division between the two Exchequers more clear
and more precise." In conclusion, he called upon
the house to permit the introduction of the bill, and
to "bestow their most serious attention upon its
provisions, for the purpose of passing it in an
effective shape."
111 r. NEWDEGATE endeavoured to be heard, but
without success, and, the house having divided, the
amendment was negatived by 318 to 173.
Leave was then given to introduce the bill.
The house adjourned at five minutes past one
o'clock.

NOTICES OF MOTION.

SIONDAY.

Mr. l'itincint --of his intention ; move on the following day
for leave to bring in a bill providing for compensation to tenant-
farmers for improvements made by them upon their land during
the time of their occupation thereof, and limiting the power of
eviction in certain cases. . . .

Mr. MACARTNEY—of his intention to move for leave to bring
in a bill to make uniform the weights and measures iu Great
Britain and Ireland.
Sir H. WILLOUGHBT—of his intention, on the house resolving
itself into a Committee of Supply, to call attention to the vote
No. 10, from which it would be seen that a sum of 5161001. had
been expended without the authority of that house.
Mr. V‘ Y!..E —that it was his intention, on the Chancellor of the
Exchequer moving for a select committee to inquire into the
proposed sites for a national picture gallery, and into the plans
for enlarging the British Museum, to move es all amendment
that, a Royal commission having been tupointed at the request
of the house, and having reported on the subject., any further
inquiry la unnecessary.