The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-28 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE S.

ANOTHER night has been spent upon an Indian de-
bate in the Homo of Commons, without in coy

material degree changing the present character of
the question, or the relations- of its future settlement.
Our huge Empire iu liindostan has been shown to
be sadly in want of those reforms that we
in these columns have so often called for.

India wants peace,—she wants railroads and
other public works,—she wants education and
fair play for her ingenious people. That
these necessities may be isely 'provided for, she
wants full and Into opportunity for the statement of
her grievances, and to this end the Parliamentary
Committee now Fitting must (and it seems will
continue its labours. Either by Commissions
sent to the Presidencies, or by summoning
witnesses to England, the testimony of
the natives themselves should be taken and
published for the enlightenment of Parliament and
the satisfaction of their fellow-subjects, the people of
England. Such means, well carried out, for gaining
additional information, would assuredly demonstrate
anew the mischie fi of the existing system in so clear
a manner that the Legislature must inevitably deter-
mine upon the establishment of a thoroughly effec-
tive Indian Government—one directly responsible
to Parliament and the Crown for all its acts.
Thus alone are we likely to do justice to the vast
population of our Eastern Dependencies. But all
these points have been so often discussed before, that
last night's debate could do very little for their fur-
ther elucidation. Whatever the final decision of the
House of Commons on the Coalition plan may be,
—still through each of the natural stages must the
Indian question pass—agitation, inquiry, popular
instruction on the subject; and ample legislation.
Whether the Tories carry Lord S raN LEY'S motion, or
whether they do not, the result, so far as India is
concerned, must be much the same. If the new
Derbyito champion could have his way, he would
postpone legislation till next year, when the House
of Commons, however otherwise engaged upon Re-
form or any other urgent topic, would be compelled
to discuss the Government of India. On the other
hand, the non-success of Lord STANLEY leaves Par-
liament equally open next year to the discussion of
the question of India if it should be so inclined ; but
permits it the option of keeping over the settlement
of reform on the Ganges and the Indus till we
have first settled some much needed reforms at
home on the Thames, the Medway, and use,
Humber. The difference, as it affects Hindostas,
is virtually nil—as it affects Great Britain it is every-1
thing. Accepting the temporary measure of the
Coalition, whilst declaring its faults, we are at full
liberty to alter and amend it as completely as Parlia-
ment pleases whenever Parliaancat plcszcs—ant with
this satisfuetory difference in favour of the plan pro-
posed by Sir C. Noun as compared with the Tory
scheme of his opponent, Lord STANLEY, that with
the former we may be able to secure timo for
such a purification of our representative system as
shall give a much purer and better House of Com-
mons to sit in judgment on India than the one now
seated upon the benches of St. Stephen's. In pro-
portion as we in England become more enlightened
by popular education, more comfortable by the
growth and distribution of wealth, more free by the
adaptation of our institutions to the new aspects
of the time, so shall we find more leisure, more
will, and more ability to do complete justice to
the various colonies and dependencies which
acknowledge our sway. The more comfortable we
become, the more shall we be bound and be ready to
exert ourselves to lift our fellow-subjects in India
and elsewhere towards that level of civilisation and
freedom which we ourselves enjoy. Nothing, there-
fore, is more certain than that agitation for reform in
India is now only beginning—only in its infancy.
It must and will grow and strengthen year by year,
and is only to be stayed by the doing of the fullest
justice that the case demands. Viewed dispassionately,
it is seen to be a great step gained when we find the
India Company coming in vain to Parliament for
another lease of power for an absolute fixed term.
They never met refusal before. All previous settle-
ments were on the basis of a lease for a period of
years, during which they had full swing for all they
' wished to do. But the days of their
leases are over. They remain—or, rather, a
portion of them remain—tenants it is true,
hut this time they are but tenants-at-will. They
may farm llindostan, but they are to have with them
in their tenancy certain nominees of the Crown,
who may be regarded as apprentices learning what-
ever Leadenhall can teach, and when able to pull
the strings of the India House machinery, Parliament
may at once give the old worn-out cliqucnoticcto quit,
and move the new councillors at once to Cannon-row.
The term of the duration of the double government
rests absolutely with the House of Commons. They
henceforth are the true lords of Leadenhall. The
settlement of all the moot points are now simple ques-
tions of time; and the wished-for India changes may,
if Parliament so wills it, be made as completely next
year with Lord STANLEY beaten as with the Tory
motion triumphant. And he will be beaten. But
the India House lease being out, and the stage
free for future action. let that action be calm,
steady, well-informed, deliberate. Let our reform
come first, and India reform must then assuredly
follow after; 03 a reality—not a sham.

WE have recently hud to chronicle a large number
of tires in London. Can these horrors not be
lessened ? A fire in the prairies is one of the most
terrible of all devastating %isitations, but our feelings
on its occurrence are in some degree checked by the
reflection that its origin is accidental; that the
blame of it can be attached to no one, and that its pro-
gress is inevitable. A fire at sea has all the elements
of horror that arc involved in a fire in :he prairie,
although its area is limited; but the same mnsidera-
tions of impossibility of succour from any extra-
neous source, tend to diminish in some degree
the sentiments we should otherwise expeti.lnce
in reading narratives of such calamities. No.ne
of these considerations apply, however, to a fire
in a large city. A forest on fire is a thing which
defies the attempts of all human power to quell it—
a ship on fire is isolated in the deep, no one at hand
to bear assistance, and the sufferers who would avoid
death by fire have no alternative but to incur that by