The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

THE COURT OF PROPRIETORS
EAST INDIA STOCK.

OF

THE attention of the country is at present so
deeply fixed on the proceedings of Parliament
that little notice is likely to be accorded to
what, under any circumstances, has become
so contemptible a farce as the recent meeting
of the Quarterly Court of the Proprietors of
East India Stock ; but it may not be impos-
sible to extract a moral suited to the present
crisis from so unpromising a subject as this is.
The Court of Proprietors, it is needless to
say, is the Parliament of the East India Com-
pany. By the Proprietors the Directors are
elected, and to the Proprietors they are by the
constitution of their body responsible. Until
the last Government of India Renewal Act the
Proprietors had, when dissatisfied with the
conduct of the Directors, the power of remov-
ing them, and they have still the power of
criticising their conduct, and of passing such
censures ou their proceedings, as if the power
were ever exercised could hardly fail to have
an important influence on the direction of
Indian affairs. In ancient times this power
was exercised ; but, not being men generally
actuated by the highest motives, the indepen-
dence of the Proprietors was of short dura-
tion. The patronage in the hands of the Di-
rectors was freely used for the purpose of cor-
rupting the more active of them, and the apa-
thetic were content to acquiesce in a system
of tacit connivance at all that was done, as
long as their own pecuniary interests were
untouched. The Directors thus originally no
minated for four years only became, in fact,
Directors for life, their re-elections assuming
all the certainty of a re-election for a pocket

borough ; while [the Proprietors sank into a
state of complete political insignificance, from
which they have never even attempted to
emerge. With an active and efficient presi-
dent of the India Board at the other end of
the governmental machine, this corrupt acqui-
escence in all the Directors' acts by the Court
of Proprietors might, to be sure, be a matter
of less importance than it is ; but with all con-
trol over the former, whether from above or
below, virtually abandoned, there remains no-
thing but an irresponsible body, unlikely to
pursue any good object, and whose faculties
appear, in fact, absorbed in the business of
making the most profitable use of their pool-
' Lion, and turning it into a means of systematic
nepotism, jobbery, and corruption.
The question, then, for the public to consider
is, whether it is fitting or desirable to have a
re venue almost as large as the unmortgaged
revenues of England, and an army almost
equal to the whole disposable armies of Rus-
sia, any longer in the hands of a virtually
irresponsible clique in Leadenhall street for
such purposes as those, when in the hands of
the Crown they might be made so largely to
aid our necessities, both of men and money,
for the prosecution of the present war. It
does seem to us that, for the nation to
allow the half of its legitimate war resources
to be thus paralysed, and that for the gratifi-
cation of the basest personal ends, could be
only equalled by the imbecility of the Emperor
of Russia, if he should determine to carry on
the war with only the men and revenues of
Russia proper, ignoring altogether his recruits
of various races and his subsidies from all
those vast provinces which he and his prede-
cessors have been conquering, while we were
making ourselves masters of British India.
The sole arguments that have ever been
used in favour of the double government, are
the supposed peculiar acquaintance of the
Directors with Indian affairs, and the diffi-
culty arising from giving the patronage of
India to the Crown. But it would be absurd
to suppose that there are not in England
plenty of retired Indian officers and statesmen
who would be happy to act as advisers to the
President of the India Board, and who would
bring an amount of practical knowledge of
India to the Crown's service far exceeding
that for the most part possessed by the
Directors of the East India Company; while,
as to patronage, the patronage of the Civil
Service and of assistant-surgencies has now
been cut off from the Directors, and the mili-
tary patronage might easily be bestowed with-
out Ministerial intervention, partly in prizes
to our public schools and military colleges,
and partly through the Horse Guards, as a
reward to the sons of deserving officers, and
especially of those—we fear a long list—who
have sacrificed their lives for their country in
the Crimea, but have left their unfortunate
children destitute. Why bid these look for
relief to the charity doled out by a Patriotic
Fund, when there stands a rich and most ap-
propriate fund for their relief ready created to
the hands of Parliament in the military
patronage of India? The first use Lord
ELLENBOROUOH made of his patronage when
named President of the India Board was to
give a cadetship to a lad whose father he had
never seen, and who had nothing but his
father's war services to recommend him.
Why, then, should the Legislature hesitate to
exercise the powers it possesses, and devote
the patronage which it sees to be abused, but
which it knows not how to dispose of, to the
relief in a similar manner of those whose
fathers have bled or died in the service of
their country.

HOSPITAL ARRANGEMENTS.
THERE has lately appeared in the printsellers' win.
dows an engraving entitled " Woman's Mission
most of our readers are probably acquainted with the
print to which we allude. The subject is that of a
wounded soldier, lying upon a rough but comfortable
bed, well covered with warm bedclothes, in a roomy
chamber of the hospital, and tended by two of our
lady nurses ; one kneeling at the bedside is bathing
the poor sufferer's head, who looks towards her with
eyes beaming with gratitude, while the other is
busying herself about the room. The story is well
told, the incident touching, and the effect impressive,

If we were prejudiced, we should certainly say that
this print was a joint-stock affair between Mr. SIDNEY
HERBERT and the Duke of NEWCASTLE, got up for
the purpose of presenting to the people, iu the shape
of a skeu.di of pretty nurses, good beds and bedding,
roomy chambers, and careful tending to the wants of
our eutfering heroes, an allegorical picture of the
forethought, consideration, and scrupulous care of
our present Government for the at my. But, without
offering any opinion as to whether the War Secretaries
are joint proprietors of this touching engraving, we
must beg the public not to be deceived by any such
seductive romances of misery. Our sick and wounded
soldiers are not so carefully tended, neither have they
such beds, nor rooms, nor comforts in any shape, as
are here represented. With a few hundred bed-
steads, and fewer mattrasses and palliasses, our four
thousand sick are crowded together in foul contact,
unwashed and unwired for, beyond the daily dressing
of their wounds.
As for our camp hospitals on the field, they are
not to be mentioned under any category of recep-
tacles for sick or wounded. With but few medical
stores, beyond bandages and calomel, they have no
beds, bedding, blankets, or fuel, and the poor wretch
who is brought into them, is operated upon, and
packed off to Scutari with hasty propriety. In
striking contrast to this deplorable neglect are
the accounts given of the order and efficiency
which characterise the French hospital arrangements.
There we see that the rooms are clean, and warmed
with stoves, and that the wards are abundantly sup-
plied with linen, clothing, and household and per-
sonal requisites of every sort ; that every patient
has his bedstead, mattress, palliass, and clean sheets
and blankets ; that to each bed is provided four
pairs of sheets, six shirts, throe towels, three pairs
of warm woollen socks, three nightcaps, and three
cravats ; and that a washing-house is attached to the
building, and in ooastant operation, so that the sup-
ply of clean linen is perpetually replenished. Tables
and shelf are provided also to each bed, upon which are
kept—alma and ready for use—medicine, drinking-
cups, and other personal requisites. The hospitals,
in fact, conveniently fitted in every department, are
hardly inferior to the hospitals of London and Paris,
and the result of such arrangements is obvious. The
men, better cared for, are more speedily cured, and
we fear that the proportion of "deaths in hospital"
would be sadly against us.
It may be asked why the lamentable defects in
our hospital system are allowed to continue, month
after month, without improvement? The answer is,
that the Government (after five months of misms-
nageniast) have sent out a Commission to trace
these defects to their source, not to rectify them, but
simply to report upon the subject. The public,
however, will be happy to hear that this Commission
have commenced taking evidence.
Even her Majesty, ever alive to the wants and
sufferings of her subjects, has lately given a marked
reproof to the belay idleness of her War Ministers.
Commanding the presence of a Mr. HOOPER at the
Palace, Her Majesty inspected a variety of air-beds
and cushions for invalids, and ordered a number to
be sent out to Scutari at her own private expense.
Here the question naturally arises, why the Govern-
ment have not done this ? Why is the provision of
such absolute necessaries to be left to the care of
private generosity? The answer to be given in this
case, is as simple as that returned to the urgent en
treaties of the Directors of the several steam com-
panies (whose ships are now under the Government
contract for war service) for the Government to pur-
eliase their large surplus stock of bed and bedding
for the use of the siok and wounded on the passage
between Halsklava and Scutari. "It is against the
regulations." The size of the beds and bedding
were above regulation measure, were not made by
the regulation contractor, and so the Government
could not possibly permit the purchase ; and it is the
same with these air-beds. Where is the use of all
our science, and all our discoveries for the alleviation
of pain, if upon the first great scale of deadly war•
fare we are go back to the practice of fifty years
past? The only consolation offered to us is of a
negative nature. If our army suffers much, the
Russians suffer more; if we have few surgeons,
bad hospital arrangements, few stores, with but
little fuel, the Russians have none at all ; if we have
got diarrhosa in the camp, they have dysentery, and
if we have got dysentery, they have got cholera, and,
finally, if we have got cholera, they have typhus and
cholera. Hence because the Russian sick are neg-
lected, it is inferred that our own have no right to
complain.

MR. S. HERBERT AND OUR NATIONAL
DEFENCES.
IN both Houses of Parliament allusion has been
made to the smallness of our peace establishment
maintained for some years past. Mr. SIDNEY HER-
BERY,in particular, in his speech on the Address ad-
mitted.that all parties, all Administrations, and all

THE PRESS.

Parliaments had been much to blame for bringing
forward year after year peace estimates, and making
reductions upon them. But this candid gentleman
quite forgot to state, that not only was he the very
person to urge most strongly peace establishments
on former Governments, but in his capacity as Minis-
ter-at-War effected what were described as "very
" important reductions in the public expenditure for
" the war department," on the army estimates in the
session of 1840. Be it remembered, too, that during
his administration the embodiment of the Militia was
not only talked of but urged upon the Government,
and always without the slightest success. To whom
was this owing if not to the Secretary-at-War? Mr.
S. HERBERT and his colleagues have been in office
seven years out of the last thirteen, and his friends
have been in five out of the remaining six, yet not
one step did they ever take towards putting this
country in a state of defence, either by land or sea,
though the subject was urged upon them again and
again by the highest authority then living—the late
Duke of WELLINGTON himself. The only Ministry
which ever took a step towards the defence of this
country was that against whieh Mr. HERBERT and his
confreres from the first moment declared war, and by
factious vote ousted from Office. LORD D Fear's Go-
vernment, and Lord DERBY'S alone, took a forward step
in this matter, yet the Right Hon. Gentleman has the
hardihood to say that " he makes no exceptions," all
Governments were equally to blame ; " as to the ques-
" tion of peace establishments, they had been always
" agreed." Does lie happen to recollect the conduct of
his present colleague and chief, Lord John RUSSELL, in
the spring of 1852 ? Does he happen to recollect
that that noble Lord opposed that Militia Bill, on
which the Right Hon. Gentleman in the next sentence
bestows such just praise, to the utmost of his power,
and endeavoured to enlist the Radicals on his side on
the ground of the expense to which it would put the
country—a factious course, in which he signally
failed, and was himself beaten by a majority of 150?
Mr. HERBERT does not require our correction, he
corrects himself. In the very sentence following
that quoted above, he makes the exception which lie
said he would not make. "The house would recollect
" the Militia Bill brought in by the hon. member
"for Midhurst (Mr. WALPOLE)—anexcellent measure,
" which he then much approve I of, and every year
" had convinced him of its utility."
But this excellent measure, which provided the
country with 80,000 men for home defence, was not
the only step taken by Lord DERBY'S Government to
increase ,the national defences. The next was to
propose an increase to the extent of five thousand
men to our army, involving necessarily a considerable
addition to the army estimates. Then came a large
augmentation in the ordnance, which department
had since 1815 been almost utterly neglected, till it
was unprovided with the necessary equipments which
would enable artillery to take the field; carriages had
rotted in the store, ammunition waggons had become
useless, and were unprovided with horses to draw them•
In one year the late Government repaired the deft
ciencies which a false economy had caused for many
years past, and, under the management of Lord
kisannior., formed that artillery corps which is
considered for its extent the finest in Europe, and
has proved of such invaluable service to our troops
in the present campaign. The defence measures of
Lord DERBY'S Government did not end here ; they
expended large sums on the fortification of the
various Channel islands, Guernsey, Jersey, and Sark,
as well as on the lortiticatious of English coasts at
Sheerness, Tilbury, Sconcepoint, Sc. Particular
attention was paid by the Ordnance Board to the
arming department, and improvements iu the
soldier's firelock were introduced, which have since
been found of the utmost value. The merits of the
celebrated Enfield rifle (so often improperly called
the Minis) and Colt's revolvers were not overlooked,
and every effort was made by the Board to put the
best arms which the improvements of modern
science could suggest into the hands not only of the
new Militia raised at home, but of the troops of the
line, who were found in some cases to have been
inefficiently equipped abroad. To go through a
statement of all the expenses involved by these
measures would be more than our space will admit
of, but we may state that the increase on the mere
supplementary estimate of the office of Ordnance
alone (independently of the army and navy esti-
mates), for 1852.3 was 92,658/., and, by a subsequent
vote, was raised to above 100,0001.
The Duke of NORTEUMBERLAND'S administration
of the navy was still more conspicuous for vigour and
efficiency. Nine screw line-of-battle ships, and
several frigates, were added to our navy, and two
thousand additional seamen were added to our naval
force. Facts are said to be stubborn things. We
recommend Mr. S. HERBERT to be more attentive to
them in future, or he may rely on it that his pre-
tended candour will only bring on him the odious
reproach of hypocrisy. Let him be more careful in
his statements, more consistent in his language, and

SATURDAY,

especially take care that when he finds it expedieLt
to contradict himself point blank the antagonistic
sentences are not in junta-position. As for his poli-
tical conduct, the best rule which can be laid down
for his guidance is, to be more energetic when in
ottioe, and less factious when out of it.

NAVAL NEGLECTS AT BALAKLAVA.
Lon) HARDWICHE exposed with great ability the
mismanagement at Balaklava Harbour. His Lord-
ship distinctly proved the gross neglect of the authc-
rides, and he rightly laid down the rule that a Go-
vernment must be held responsible to the oMcers it
appoints, and illustrated his argument by reference
to the case of the Prince. It is beyond dispute that
the Admiralty's attention was called to the nautical
incapacity of the captain of the Prince, and yet that
ill-fated vessel was allowed to sail without the cap-
tain being superseded. On this point it must spe-
cially be noticed that it would have been easy to
transfer the captain (so incriminated) to a ship of
less value than one taking out the precious cargo of
winter clothing for our troops. Allowing the Prince
to sail with such a commander was a scandalous
error, the more flagrant as Sir JAMES GRAILAN RM
forwarned upon it.