The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 17, 1858.

gunboats had reconnoitred. Six days had been allowed to
the Chinese for an answer from Pekin, and before that
period an officer of proper rank had been deputed to meet
the Plenipotentiaries; but there was very little hope of a
peaceful solution of difficulties, and the Sampson had been
sent to Hong Kong for reinforcements. She was to leave
for the north again on the 29th of May, with six officers
and 170 men of the Royal Engineers, and two gunboats
were to accompany her. It was reported that her Majesty's
59th were under orders for the same destination, about
1,200 native troops having arrived from Calcutta and
Madras. The French transport Gironde had also arrived
with 900 marine infantry.

EAST INDIA-HOUSE.
THE following is the draught of the petition of the
East India Company to the House of Lords against
Bill No. 3, for the better government of India,
adopted at the India-house last Wednesday :

1. That at the commencement of the present session
of Parliament your petitioners did address ycur right hon.
house, praying that you would not " give your sanction to
any change in the constitution of the Indian Government
without full previous inquiry into the present system," an
inquiry extending into " every branch of Indian adminis-
tration ;" and that your petitioners did at the same time
"challenge the most searching investigation into the mu-
tiny of the Bengal army, and the causes, whether remote
or immediate, which produced that mutiny."
2. That, nevertheless, without any such inquiry or in•
vestigation whatsoever having taken place, a bill has been
introduced into your right hon. house, and mad a first
time, entirely abrogating that constitution of government
for India which has existed from the first—viz., the go-
vernment of this Company, at whose expense, and by
whose exertions, British authority was originally estab-

lished in India.
8. That your petitioners cannot but regard such a mea-
sure as having in public estimation a penal character, and
its adoption as calculated to lead to the general inference
that they have abused their trust, and have been deservedly
cashiered for misconduct. Your petitioners submit to
your right hon. house that they cannot, without dishonour,
acquiesce in their own condemnation without having
obtained a trial, or so much as the production of a single
charge against them. In 1853 it was decided by Parlia-
ment, after an inquiry the most minute and laborious, that
the government of India by your petitioners should eon.
tinue " until Parliament should otherwise provide ;" it is
now declared by the preamble of the bill before your right
hon. house to be " expedient" to make such other provi-
sion for the government of India, without reason given or
cause assigned, or any inquiry whatsoever.
4. That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the circum-
stances of the rebellion in India do make inquiry by Par•
liament necessary, and such inquiry ought to be into the
conduct of individuals, as the chief means whereby mis-
conduct, if proved, can in future be prevented. Your pe-
titioners submit to your right hon. house that it is at least
possible that one result of such an inquiry might be to
implicate functionaries of the Indian Government who
are not servants of this Company, bat whom it is now
proposed to relieve from that practical although limited
control to which they have hitherto been subjected by the
existence of this Company. Your petitioners submit to
your right hon. house that,in passing the proposed measure
without full previous inquiry, you do incur the danger of
increasing that power of the servants of the Crown which,
as exerted in the affairs of India, may have already been
too great, and required to be diminished.
5. That your petitioners cannot but consider the rejec-
tion of their prayer for inquiry as not only an act of injus
Lice towards themselves, but an act of injustice towards
the people of India, and a most lamentable precedent fur
the future conduct of the Legislature under great national
calamities. In their former petition your petitioners did
respectively claim such an inquiry, because when, for the
first time in this century, the thoughts of every public
man in the country were fixed on India, an inquiry would
be more thorough, and its results would carry much more
instruction to the mind of Parliament and the country than
at any preceding period. Your petitioners apprehend that
the rejection of this their prayer is the neglect of a pre-
cious opportunity which may never recur. The bill now
under consideration by your right hon. house, contrary to
all former precedent, contains no mention whatever of the
people of India.
6. That your petitioners did represent to your right hon.
house, in their former petition, that " they could not well
conceive a worse form of government for India than a
Minister with a Council, whom he should be at liberty to
consult or not at his pleasure ;" a principle which the pro-
posed form of government adopts to a very serious extent,
it being one of the main provisions of the bill "fur the
better government of India" that the President of the
Council shall be at libeity to receive secret communica-
tions from India, and send out secret orders, whenever in
his judgment such secrecy may be required, without sub-
mitting the same to the members of the council. It is
the belief of your petitioners that inquiry by your right
hon. house into the operation and results of the power of
secret action, which has been exercised by the President
of the Board of Control since the institution of that
Board through the medium of the Secret Committee of
the Directors of the Company, would make it impossible
for your right hon. house to place in the hands of a Secre.
tary of State still greater powers for mischief than hereto-
fore, by passing an enactment the effect of which is no-
thing less than to give the sanction of Parliament to the
dangerous practice of transacting the public business by
means of private letters.
7. That the capital stock and debts of this Company
amount in the aggregate to 113,000,0001. sterling—a liability
from which it is proposed by Parliament to relieve your

693

petitioners, and which Parliament does not propose to take
upon itself, but, on the contrary, by the insertion of the
word " alone " after "Indian revenues " in clause 42 of the
aforesaid bill, to expressly disclaim. Your petitioners beg
respectfully to represent to your right hon. house that
such an enactment cannot but tend to mislead the English
people on a matter of the most vital importance, inasmuch
as your petitioners cannot see how the national credit can
be kept separate from the credit of the Indian Govern-
ment, save by continuing this Company in its administrative
functions.

8. That in the year 1773, when the chartered rights of
your petitioners were first invaded, and powers and patron-
age which they had hitherto exercised were otherwise vested,
certain of the members of your lordships' house did protest
against the course that was at that time entered upon, pre-
dicting " that the boundless fund of corruption furnished
by that bill to the servants of the Crown would efface every
idea of honour, public spirit, and independence from every
rank of people; consequences which, in the belief of your
petitioners, the proposed bill ( which is the sequel to that of
1773) renders more imminent than ever.

9. That, having regard to all these considerations, and
seeing that that full inquiry which your petitioners before
prayed your right hon. house to institute hap become im—
possible during the present session of Parliament, your
petitioners do humbly pray your right hon. house not to
suffer the bill for the " better government of India," now
before you, to become law ; and your petitioners do further
pray your right hon. house to allow this Company to be
heard by counsel against the said bill, and in defence of
the Company's rights and privileges.
And your petitioners will ever pray.