The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 12, 1857.

Mr. CARDWELL believed that the question was
still surrounded with difficulties, for whose solution
further inquiry was needed. The committee ap-
pointed last session avowedly left their investigations
incomplete, and since they last sat important events
had occurred, raising new points whereon informa-
tion was most desirable. He should, therefore, vote
for the mation to appoint a select committee. He
proceeded to defend the Bank Charter Act, whose
op !ration he traced at mach length, and contended
that it had produced extensive benefit to the coun-
try, and that the pending crisis would not have ne-
cessitated its suspension, had it not been for the
exceptional demand for gold to meet the run upon
the Scottish banks. _

Mr. GLADSTONE fully concurred in the speech of
Mr. Disraeli, whose arguments he considered unan-
swerable. He deprecated any further delay on the
part of the house in pronouncing a definitive opinion
respecting the principles on which the currency of
the country should be based. It was impossible to
maintain the Bank Charter Act without change, and
it was highly inexpedient to leave so important a
measure in a state of inactivity. The results upon
trade would, he was convinced, be most prejudicial.
Mr. MALINS condemned the Act of 1844, which he
believed to be founded on a false principle.
Mr. HORSFALLI also thought the act required
modification. He supported the motion for a select
committee.
Mr. WEGUELIN entered into some explanation
touching the course pursued by the Bank of Eng-
land Directors during the present crisis. He attri-
buted the pending emergency chiefly to the reaction
from excessive expenditure and inflated prices
during the Russian war.
Mr. BOA:men BLAKEMORE supported Mr. Disraeli's

amendment.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER having briefly
replied, the house divided. For the motion, 295;
Against, 117-118.
The house adjourned at half-past one o'clock.

INDIA REFORM.

As influential and crowded meeting was held on
Wednesday night at the London Tavern, to consider
the policy of continuing the present irresponsible
Government of India. The chair was taken by Mr. C.
Gilpin, M.P. ; and there were present on the platform
the Marquis of Clanricarde, Sir Erskine Perry, M.P.,
Lord F. Cunningham, M.P., Mr. Henry Pease, M.P.,
Mr. J. B. Smith, M.P., Mr. J. A. Wise, M.P., Vis-
count Byng, M.P., Colonel French, Mr. L. L. Dillwyn,
M.P., Mr. F. Crossley, M.P., Mr. Hadfield, M.P.,
Mr. O'Brien, M.P., and Messrs. John Richardson,
0. T. Otway, W. Ramsay, J. Morland, Alderman
Wire, Ste. The large room was crowded to excess,
and the proceedings throughout were conducted
with a unanimity of feeling that showed that the
subject of India and its future government had
excited a deep interest in the minds of the public.
The meeting was addressed at length by Mr. Gilpin,
M.P., the Marquis of Clanricarde, Mr. Phillimore,
Mr. Allan, and Mr. Mead, the editor of the Friend
of India journal, and the following resolutions, with
a petition to Parliament founded upon them, were
unanimously adopted :-
1. That the present rebellion and the previous complaints
in India—complaints of all ranks and conditions of men
except those wbo profited by the monopoly of patronage—
prove that the system of the so-called "double Govern-
ment" has excited the general hatred and disaffection of
it■ subjects, and has nearly occasioned the loss of our
Indian empire ; and, therefore, that it is expedient that the
" double Government" should cease; that no farmers or
trustees of India should any longer stand between the com-
plaints of the people and the power and justice of the
Crown; and that the supremacy of the Queen and Parlia-
ment alone should henceforth be recognised in India, as it
is in every other part of the British dominions.
2. That, although a vicious and irresponsible system of
home governuient, like the trusteeship of the Eatt India
Company, may be well fitted for extending our Indian
empire by its unscrupulous use of force and fraud against
the feeble powers of Asia, still it is evidently unfitted for
inspiring confidence in British honour, and for consoli-
dating British power in any part of the world, and until it
be superseded no effectual step can he taken towards re-
moving those evils of which the people of India so justly
complain ; such as a judicial and police administration
which gives no security for person or property; a system
of land revenue which prevents capitalists from investing
their fortunes in the soil; a want of irrigation to develop
its boundless riches, and of roads and canals to bring its
produce to market ; a traditionary policy of discouraging
British enterprise and settlement in India ; and a mono-
poly of all the prizes of office by the nominees of the Home
Government.
3. That the patronage hitherto monopolised by the
directors of the East, India Company belongs of right to
the whole body of their countrymen, and should be given
to the public at large ; and that, in the words of a Cabinet
Minister, forty years ago, and then President of the Board