The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

of the Company's ; but the only point in re-
spect of which the Company are personally in-
terested, the payment of their dividends, is
already secured to them by law. As to the
rest, their interest in the government of India
is all in the direction of expenditure, because
expenditure provides fortunes for relatives and
connections ; and the more extravagant,
therefore, the Indian Government is, the
more• the Directors profit by the patronage
which is in their hands. It is the Crown and
public alone that are interested in seeing that
the vast patrimony thus held in trust for them
by the East India Company is not wasted
away or misapplied.

It is, and has been, the opinion of many
men of large Indian experience that not only
ought India not to be subject to a constant
deficit, but that under proper management
there would be a considerable annual surplus
available for the general purposes of the
Crown. Their idea is, that under the present
inefficient mode of collection a large portion
of the proper revenue is lost to us before it
ever comes to 'nand ; and that the system of
economics insisted on by the Company is so
utterly opposed to every principle of develop
ment and progress that the expansion of the
public income is in India impossible ; while
such expansion is the must marked and clear
characteristic of prosperity and advancement
in every well-ordered State. Almost the only
increase that is now ever made to the Indian
revenue is that arising from annexations and
confiscations, and these are always found after
a time to fail to pay the increased establish-
ments they compel us to keep up. The only
parts of India where progress is really made
(and there it has been rapid and undoubted)
are the Presidency capitals, where no such
impediments to improvement as the Company
are allowed to raise up elsewhere are per•
initted by the law to exist. To the revenue
thus lost and sacrificed let us add the absurdly
extravagant endowment of the covenanted
Civil Service, contrasting so strongly with the
niggardly endowment of the uncovenanted
Civil Service, not cared for because not
appointed by the Directors, but who really (to
the greater part of the work. Let us add
also the vast sums jobbed away in the shape
of contracts, given not by competition, but by
favour, and the thousand other ways in which
the public money is got rid of, both in
Leadenhall-street and in the East, and we
shall have no difficulty in discovering how
India is to us a source of loss instead of profit,
though universally known and recognised as
the richest empire in the world.

The little island of Java pays to the Dutch
Crown something like a million sterling
annually, after all its civil and military and
naval establishments are paid ; and there is
not a province of ours in India in which
there was not a large surplus of revenue
when it was in native hands. Yet then the
public establishments were larger, the do-
mains alienated to the nobility and others
were vaster, and the expenditure on mosques,
temples, tanks, wells, aqueducts, embank-
ments of masonry, and canals for irrigation,
and for charitable establishments, and for
resting-places for travellers and pilgrims, was
so infinitely greater than ours is as to be abso-
lutely beyond compare. And withal the rural
population seem to have been more comfort-
able and better satisfied, partly because the
mode of assessment was better suited to their
interest and habits, but chiefly because there
were then more men of capital, in the shape
of nobility and wealthy zemindars, who were
devoted to or interested in the cultivation of
land. It would be obviously too much to sup-
pose that any change in the mode of auditing
the Indian accounts could remedy all these
evils, which, if India is to be retained by us,
must eventually be met ; but the first step
towards putting a property in order is to get
some clear and reliable detail of its revenue
and expenditure, and to establish some effi-
cient guard against unauthorised outlay ; and
this step in advance will at least have been
taken when the measures shall have been
alopted indicated by us at the outset of this
article, and which the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH
in 183 proposed.

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147

LORD PALMERSTON AND PRUSSIA.
THE question of the introduction of Prussia
to the Conferences of Paris assumes every day
a graver character. The object of these im-
portant negotiations is to establish a barrier
against the aggressive policy of Russia ; and
it would be desirable, if possible, that all the
countries of Europe should be engaged in
restricting the ambition of a disturbing State.
The Conferences of Paris commence their
labours by the exclusion of a first-rate
Power!

But Prussia is not merely a first-rate Power.
Great in her own resources, she is greater as
the only practical medium of representing, on
this occasion, pure Germany. The Conferences
commence by Russia gaining the immense
advantage that she has, at least, not to deal
with united Europe. The isolation of Ger-
many is her strength.
To obtain this end the Court of St. Peters-
burg adroitly commenced its diplomatic
labours by requiring that the King of PRUSSIA
should be invited to send Plenipotentiaries to
Paris. It was sufficient that the request was
made by Russia for the English Government
to insist on its refusal, which was exactly what
was desired at St. Petersburg. Lord PALMERS-
TON fell into a trap with curious ease.
We have the best reason to believe that the
Emperor NAPOLEON was anxious, and is still
anxious, that Prussia should be identified with
the common labours, and it was hoped, for a
time, that the English Cabinet had assented
to a proposition so clearly for their own in-
terest; for if there be a Power in Europe
whose interests are identical with our own, it
is Prussia. But the King of PRUSSIA and his
Minister have offended Lord PALMERSTON, and
that statesman continues, as before, to con-
duct diplomacy with passion. It is unfortu-
nate for this country that our Chief Minister
will never learn that rancour is not a political
word.

Instead of an universal coalition against the
ambition of a disturber, the Conferences of
Paris already assume the limited character of
a partial alliance for particular objects, in
which all the members are not equally in-
terested. It will be wonderful, if jealousies
are not soon developed, if they have not
already appeared ; at any rate we must ex;',
pect indifference and neglect.
It is not the interest of England that Aus- '
tria should figure as the predominant Power
of Germany.
It is said that Prussia has offered to sign
the five conditions, and to proceed to nego;
tiate on their bases, incurring the conse-
quences of a failure in the treaty of peace:
But Lord PALMERSTON, notwithstanding the
appeals of France, and even Austria, even,
indeed, of his own colleagues, will not listen
to the proposition. In the meantime, M.
BRUNOW smiles at the success of the manoeu-
vres of his Court, and feels that in negotiating
a treaty of peace without Germany he has
already half demolished the Coalition

It is to be hoped that a saner spirit will yet
vindicate the interests of England. We un-
derstand that the Emperor NAPOLEON has pro-
posed that, on the signature of the prelimi-
naries, the King of PRUSSIA shall be invited to
send Ministers to Paris, to assist in the
general treaty. The Emperor, however, can
hardly be expected to be very importunate for
an object peculiarly English ; and Lord
PALMERSTON, who has been obliged to give up
on all other points of what he considers import-
ance, is soothed and gratified by the idea that
he is having his way in one instance, though, in
truth, Prussia only mocks at him for his pains.
Austria, not without complacency, shrugs her
shoulders, and France is wearied of extricating
him from the embarrassments occasioned by
his habitual arrogance.

THE CONSERVATIVES AND PRACTICAL
REFORM.
MANY sessions of Parliament have elapsed
since the Conservative party exhibited such
effective organisation as it now displays. It
has taken up a clear and decided course of
action in favour of tall sound practical re

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148

form, as distinct from mere speculative inno-
vation, made from a feverish love of change.
Education, law reform, ecclesiastical improve-
ment, are all considered, with calmness and
discretion, by leading members of the Con-
servatives ; and well-digested measures on
these great subjects may be reasonably looked
for by the country at large. Sir JOHN PARING-
TON has in former years legislated with con-
siderable success on complex social questions ;
and the practical turn of his mind, his talent
in mastering details, and his characteristic
firmness, give solid grounds for expecting a
sound measure on education from him. There
are several persons in opposite sections of
politics who concur in looking to Sir JOHN
PARINGTON as the statesman from whom the
country is likely to receive an education bill
which ,sill work in accordance with the wants
of modern English society.
Then, in law reform, it would be impossible
that the subject could be in better hands than
those of Sir FITZROY KELLY and Mr. NAPIER.
They are both men of uncommon ability, and
each stands at the head of the legal profession in
his own country. In former years Sir FITZROY
KELLY legislated with considerable success—
as a criminal law reformer. Mr. NAPIER is not
only a lawyer, but a man of philosophic intel-
lect, capable of ascending to principles. His
proposal for a Minister of Justice elicited a
most important debate on Tuesday, and he
gained encomiums from all sides of the House.
Both of those eminent jurists stand high in
the estimation of all real law reformers ; and
it is with heartfelt satisfaction that we observe
the Conservative party in Parliament so cor-
dially supporting them.
The important proposition of the Marquis
of BLANDFORD on parochial extension we shall
not discuss here, but none will deny the im-
portance of the subject, and the question is in
good hands. We prefer rather to fix the at-
tention of our readers on the careless tone of
the Ministers in discussing all these ques•
tions.

In the Lower House, the Government seem
resolved to throw cold water on every subject.
An absence of earnestness marks their
speeches, and they have degenerated down
to the sauntering air of well-bred insin-
cerity—" that yawning kind of pride," with
which Lord MELBOURNE used to treat all practi-
cal proposals. " The subject is difficult ; but
" perhaps, after all, there may be something
" iit the proposition. Well, I cannot posi-
" tively say ; I should be glad that something
" were done, but Government has nothing to
" propose. Possibly the safest way is to leave
" things to themselves." This is the sort of
tone in which every proposition fur practical
reform is answered by her Majesty's Ministers
in the House of Commons.
And those are the men who are to cure
"routine !" Those are the statesmen who are
to undertake "Administrative Reform !"

Now, let any unprejudiced person glance at
the conduct of the principal persons in the
House of Commons, and let him ray honestly
from which side may useful measures be
expected Mr DISRAELI was the first public
man of the day who directed the attention of
the country to "Administrative Reform," and
the practical course followed by the Conserva-
tives on all social questions inviting legisla-
tion shows that sound principles on " Admi-
nistrative Reform" may be more reasonably
expected from the Conservatives than from
the Whigs. It is not possible that the Whigs
would be sincere in the cause, as they would
have to put an end to their own system of
hereditary Cabinet Ministers. That is not a
step which the Whig families are likely to
t ►ke.

Without a revolution the Whigs are never
able to carry any Reform, like blundering
architects who cannot cure a defective chim•
ney, or turn a new sewer, unless they unroof
the house and upset the foundations. The
admirable speech of Lord STANLEY. in second-
ing the important proposal of Sir FITZROY
KELLY on Thursday, explains the tone and
political temper of the Conservatives. They
for - Ictical reform, not political rcvolu-
, for science, not quackery, and

i are for practie
tion; they are 1
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