The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

our painters in words. It may even be held
allowable for such persons to draw upon their
imaginations for their facts, and obtain such
credence for them as the less wary of the
public may choose to accord. This is grant
ing a latitude far beyond any that our own
conscience allows us to take, for we hold that
in all things men should adhere strictly and
at all hazards to the truth. But we do not
object to grant such latitude to our opponents,
and they are welcome to make free use of it
if they will. But if they go beyond this, and
apply such arts to the preparation of Parlia•
mentary returns and accounts, we do think
that it is high time for the honest men of all
parties to interfere. It is intolerable that
any set of persons should be permitted with
impunity to poison in this manner the foun-
tains of public information at their source. The
arts of the orator, whether forensic or Parlia-
mentary, can be guarded against by the pre-
sence in the arena of opponents as practised
as himself; but if the evidence on which
both parties had agreed to rely is allowed to be
tampered with, then all safeguard for the due
working of our Parliamentary system is at an
end. In such case, no one, not in the secret,
can possibly tell whether the premises ho is
arguing from are true or false.

It is for this reason that we think that all,
both peers and commoners, have a right to
protest against the continuance of the pre-
sent system of preparing the Indian accounts.
If not open to the charge of deliberate falsifi-
cation, they are certainly amenable to that of
a confusion which wears every appearance of
being studied with the view of preventing any
facts adverse to the Directors being satisfac-
torily educed. Under such a system it is
obvious that, for all Parliament can tell, the
misapplication of funds may take place to any
extent. Indeed, it is well known that consider-
able sums are wasted annually in entertain-
ments at the London Tavern, but of these we
see no details afforded us in these accounts.
Then, again, a large amount is spent in
charges of a nature personal to the Directors,
of which we see nothing either in the Parlia-
mentary return ; and there are many other
items of expense that we could enumerate
which are open to the same objection. The
present costly lawsuit with Mrs. DYCE SOMBRE,
in which some eighty thousand pounds have
been already sunk by the Directors, shows how,
under such a system, the revenue of India
may be misapplied. We do think, therefore, all
these things considered, that the first step to be
taken in regard to Indian affairs is the estab-
lishment of an independent and trustworthy
audit of Indian accounts. We shall then have
the satisfaction, at any rate, of knowing, as in
the case of our own revenue accounts, that the
returns laid before Parliament by the Minis-
ter are reliable, which we have shown them to
be the very reverse of at present. Let the
colouring given to his financial statements
then be what it may, we shall be sure that the
data he furnishes are both accurate and clear.
To this we can conceive no honest Minister of
any party in the State objecting ; and we do
trust, therefore, that Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S sug-
gestion will be assented to and adopted by Mr.
VERNON SMITH. The latter may not be equal to
the office he has undertaken, but his Parliamen-
tary conduct in respect to it has 'hitherto been
clear and straightforward ; it has been in
marked contrast throughout to the system of
glozing sophistry pursued by the directorial
spokesman Sir JAMES Hooc. We are not, con-
sequently, without hope that he may be in-
duced to take the manly ccurse in respect to
this important question ; that he will refuse
to continue a system which exposure makes
useless even for the purposes of its adherents ;
and that he will give the public the benefit of
a clear, truthful, and independent audit of the
Indian Accounts.