The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-04 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1851.

Lord BEAU lONT spoke in favour of adjourning the
discw4on, on the ground that the house was too thin to de.
,ntrusine a 1r.t.i..0n °Gad meth importance. [There were
noblistords In the twine.]

~pr
eneeeted that discussion be
m .4, Monday, when the Lord Chief Justice
aropbell) w/o* be prevent.
After.. sogatonversation between Lords BaoranAig and
agrvmde3rttv bdl was
supplementary pro
e fewnts Oma tattil
rough= should be given in and discured on Monday

Their lordships adjourned at a quarter to eight o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.T—TituRsDAT, APRIL 3.

The Briatau took the chair at four o'clock.

NEW MEMBERS.
'Sir JOHN RORILLY, the new Master of the Rolls, and
Sir ALEXANDER Cocanciax, the new Attorney-General,
took the oaths and their seats, on their re-election, the
former. for Devonpurt, and the latter for Southampton.
The new Master of the Rolls took his seat immediately
below the gangway, and not on the ministerial bench.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

Rasutxus. Manchester Parish Highways ;
Sheffield and Glossop Road; Whitby Waterworks; Bills.
BILLS CONSIIMISILD.—Bangor and Caernarvon Railway ;
Leicester Waterworks; Wiveliscombe Turnpike Roads;

BULL
WATERFORD AND DI:I3LIN RAILWAY:

Sir W.VERN ER moved for a copy of the communications to
the Railway Commissioners,with the engagements of the di-
reeton, to wind up the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow,
and Dublin Railway Company, and the judgment of the
Master of the Rolls as to the same being wound up.
The returns were ordered.
AYLESBURY ELECTION. . . _ _

Mr. G. A. HAMILTON reported, on behalf of the
committee appointed to try and determine the validity of
this election, that Frederick Calvert, Esq., had not been
duly elected, and that the last election was void. Ile
further stated, by direction of the committee, that Frederick
Calvert, Esq., had been guilty of treating, although it had
not been proved to the satisfaction of the committee that
these acts had been committed with the knowledge and con-
sent of the late member. A practice had prevailed at the
Aylesbury election of issuing printed ticket. for refresh-
ments to the voters for is, each, and the committee believed
this practice to be extensively carried on, and considered it
their duty to report it to the house.
NEW WRIT. . _

It was then ordered that a new writ should issue for the
borough of Aylesbury.
IRIS!! EsnmATIIS—DUBLIN HOSPITAL GRANTS.
Mr. REYNOLDS gave notice that on the motion for
going into committee on the miscellaneous estimates he
would move a series of resolutions to the effect that it was
unjust and impolitic to diminish the grant to the Dublin
charitable hospitals, because these hospitals not only af-
forded relief to the sick poor of Ireland, but to many of the
sick of England and Scotland, and because the poverty and
distress prevalent in Ireland drove numbers of sick and
helpless paupers into the City of Dublin, with the support
of whom it was unjust to burden the citizens of Dublin.
BORNEO.

.....
Mr. lIUNIE gave notice that on Tuesday next he would
take the opinion of the house as to whether payment of the
Borneo head money should not be suspended until the
house came to the opinion us to whether auy inquiry should
be made into the subject.
DISTURBANCES IN COUNTY DOWN.

Mr. SIIAIeMZICRXWFORD moved fur a copy of any
report from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department with reference to the
late proclaiming of a district in the county of Down under
Act 11 and Li Vie., c. 2.—The return wnr ordered.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Mr. ADDERIEI:- had to ash of noble lord at the
head of the government, whether any instructions had been
sent to the Governor of the ('ape, on the subject of rtniov-
ing the neat of government from Cape Town to Graham's
Town ; and whether the vacancies in the Cape legislative
council had been yet filled up, so unto permit the (urination
of the new constitution and other functions of the legis-
lature to proceed.
Lord JOINT RUSSELL replied that no instructions had
been sent regarding the removal of the seat of government.
As respects the second question, no fur an his (Lord John
Russell's) recollection served hint, instructions had been
sent out for the lining up of the vacancies in the legislative
conned.
OFFICIAL SALARIES.
Mr. URQUIIART had to auk the First Lord of the
Treasury if it was the intention of the government to carry
into effect the recommendation of the committee on official

salaries, as far as regarded diplomatic appointments.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL was not then prepared to answer
the question. Ile would make a statement when the sub.
ject came in form before the house.
Mr. URQUHART would afford the government an op-
portunity of making a statement, by twinging on a sub-
stantive motion on the subject.
Mr. BRIGHT asked whether it was the intention of the
noble lord (Lord J. 'teasel)) to carry out the recommenda-
tion fur the diminution of judges in Scotland and Ireland?
Mr. W. PATTEN was understood to ask whether the
recommendation of the committee with regard to the office
of Vice-Chancellor was to be carried into effect?
Lord J. RUSSELL, in reply to the question of *the hon. '
member (Mr. Patten), said it was his intention to introduce
a bill similar to the one of last session, when he would make
a statement on the subject. Regarding the reduction of
the number of judge, he had received strong representations
from Scotland, and, in deference to these opinions, the
government thought there should be nu reduction in Scot-
land.
Mr. BRIGHT said the noble lord would be able to in-
form the house whether the opinions he had received from
Scotland were those of the legal profession, as there existed
in Scotland considerable difference of opinion on the sub-
ject between the legal profession and the public
The question was not answered.
THE BUDGET.

Repling to Mr. llsnutvi,
TheCHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER agreed to
take a formal vote upon the income tax this evening, and
proceed with the discussion of his (Mr. Herries.) amend-
ment, upon bringing up the report on Monday.
In reply to Mr. lit gr.,
Mr. BAILLIE promised to bring on his motion respect-
ing the administration of Ceylon on the first day that it was
possible to get the motion properly placed upon the paper.
THE MISCELLANEOLS ESTIMATES.
Mr. HOME asked when the miscellaneous estimates
would be laid on the table of the house ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied that
they would be delivered in the course of two or three days.
CIVIL BILL, &c. (IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. REYNOLDS said, seeing the right bun. the Attor
ney-General for Ireland in his place, and seeing that the
Civil Bills (Ireland) Bill was on the orders of the day for a
second reading, he would ask him to what day he intended
to raystpone the second reading of the bill; and if he
would give an opportunity of forming an opinion upon it in
Ireland by postponing it till after Easter ?
Mr. HATCHELL said the bill was on the orders of the
day, and when the bill was called on in the usual manner
he should then be prepared to give an answer.
Mr. REYNOLDS then asked if the right hon. gentle-
man intended to take the second reading that night i
Mr. lIATCIIELL replied that that would depend upon
the state of the business.

RENEWAL OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S

tion of the cultivators of India is one of extreme poverty."
The hon. gentkman then referred to the quap tion of revenue
How was the revenue made up ? It was nfade up of direct
and indirect taxes, monopolies and wholesale confiscation.
According to the evidence before this committee the com-
pany had accepted of every cy,tern of exaction, and int.
proved upon every system of exaction which existed under
Mahonuurllau and Mahratta rule. Notwithstanding
these exactions, however, the revenue from every source
never amounted to 20 millions a year, although, under the
compuathely mild system of taxation which exited in the
worst times of the Mogul government, 13 millions was re•
ceived in a much smaller extent of territory. The
government woo the universal landowner, and it

Keel the rental at 43 per cent. of the produce, and that,
though the assessment wee an old one, taken before
the period of low prices which now prevailed. Then it was
not payable in produce, as under the former governments;
but in money before the crop was taken ()tithe ground, and
in order to raise it the cultivator was compelled to borrow
money of native money-lenders at in some cases 60, 70, and
even 80 per cent. When charges were brought against the
East India Company, it was the usual policy of its sup-
porters to contradict a great number of minor points in
detail, so that while leaving the main question untouched,
they contrived to create an impression that the whole was
false. It was the custom of the collectors to endeavour to
raise' each year a larger sum than that produced by his
district during the former year, and whoever did
that most successfully was looked upon as the most
meritorious. When, therefore, lane! was brought under
cultivation they charged in proportion to the value of the
crop to be raised. They extorted from the unfortunate cul-
tivator au assessment that left him the smallest possible pit-
tance on which life could be supported. Nor was that all ;
they likewise placed upon him a heavy house tax, a trade
tax, and other imposts. Why they charged a workman
twice the value of his tools annually for permission to use
them. In some districts they taxed even the wells ; and, in
a word, there was no article, whether of luxury or of neces-
sity, upon which the natives had not to pay POW direct tax
to the government. In addition to all the taxation and
confiscations to which he had alluded, there was also a
heavy indirect taxation on all imports. and even upon ex-
ports, although by means of an ambiguous clause and under
the pressure of a parliamentary inquiry the company had of
late taken otf the export duties u pon '• lawful articles,' a phrase
the meaning of which he confessed he wax at a loss tee un-
derstand. In addition to all these imposts the natives were
further sub*: to monopolies upon some of the
most important necessaries of life. (Ilear, hear.) And
what had beta the result of the salt monopoly?
Why, the introduction of that fearful epidemic which
never left India, and which sometimes devastated our own
shores, under the dreaded name of cholera. They had it
upon the best medical testimony that a vegetable diet, in
that climate, without the free use of salt, was tlee direct
cause of that scourge. Captain Harvey, after ten years'
experience uf the fiepoys, declared the same thing of them;
and it was a fact that the cholera had appeared for the first
time in 1817,when the salt monopoly WAS at its height. With
respect now to opium, he believed that the monopoly was
maintained solely by the company, and that the natives were
anxious to get rid of the drug altogether; but the collectors
by means uf advances compelled its cultivation. Its growth
was entirely forbidden to all except to those under the in-
fluence of the East India Company, who shipped it to
China, and employed smugglers to run it ashore. But
what was the result? The government had overreached
themselves. Monopoly in this as in all other things had
been the parent of scarcity, and the Chinese had found it
cheaper to grow it themselves than to import it. The abo-
lition of the monopoly had been promised in 18x3 by Mr.
Charles Grant, but it still existed in defiance of that pro-
miw, and its effect would lie entirely to destroy the opium
trade. With regard to tobacco. So completely was this
monopoly in the hands of the company that they were able
to decide what districts should be planted with it : and to
regulate the price of the commodity. The tobacco so raised
was so bad, that its use was restnctcd to the natives, who
had no choice, and the soldiers who had sin money. It had
been deposed bcfore a parliamentary committee that they
were obliged to apply to it "liquid ammonia "—a term of
which decency forbade the translation into plain English—
to give it a flavour, or nobody would use it at all. (A laugh.)
The most vexatious and oppressive means were resorted to
in order to enforce the monopolies of beeswax and other
minor articles; but, in spite of all, in spite of the annexation
of Scinde the Punjauh, Sattara, and other provinces which
hail fallen into our hands, the revenue hail not inerea,d,
and it was much smaller in proportion tee that of the more
lightly taxed people of the Mahommedan princes. The
secret of all these abuses was the removal of the govern-
ment from the natives themselves to the servants of the
company—often raw inexperienced boys who, having been
educated at an exclusive college in England, had learned to
look upon themselves as a superior caste, not only
as compared with the natives, but with the other ser-
vants of the company with whom they condescended to act.
All the evils that had arisen were caused by this attempt at
centralisation. Many of the natives were qualified to fill
the highest otlices, made more so than some of the com-
pany's servants. Above all, the corrupt administration
of justice in the company's courts should be looked
to. A law commission had !wen appointed to digest
the elements of what was called law in India. They hod
prepared a penal code, and the government had laid it on
the shelf. They were directed to inquire, whether the law
could not he made equal for all ranks and colours, so as to
elevate the depressed native to the English freenem. The
only result was the "Black Act," which degraded the
Englishman to the level of the native, by taking from him
also the right of trial by jury. True to their character,
the court of directors and their delegates in India, instead
of extending the jurisdiction of the courts to the natives,
and thus recognising their growing intelligence, in pursu-
ance of the pledge given to that effect, they had sought to
pursue a course the very reverse. Ile rejoiced to say that
' the act to which he alludexl had been disallowed, the
government thereby admitting at once the necessity of le-
gislation and their inability to legislate. tinder the exist-
ing system in the Moffussil country there was no tire yore
I examination of witnesses ; all the evidence was written ;
and the courts were not necessarily open, as the judges
need only appear there when they pronounced sentence.
They had the power of life and death, though they might
nut have been educated at the bar, Main many cases were
ignorant of the language of the wretched people subject to
their jurisdiction. Offenders were tried ley the Mahommedun
law, and a Mahommedan judge sat along with the English
judge. On One occasion, the evidence given in one of the I udian
dialects, had tee be translated into both English and Per-
aim ; and the farce was exhibited of the English judge,
who, understood not a word of the Indian language, certify-
ing that the translation was correct. The hon. and learned
member then detailed severed instances of the oppressive
operation of this system of judicatu-e. Ile supported
his motion solely on the grounds of justice and humanity.
Ile asked that nothing might be done without taking the
opinion of those whom their deliberation:4 solely affected
—slime RE or I:10 million of human brings; uml fur these
reasons he begged to move, in conclusion, the presentation
of the address before referred to to her Majesty. (Rear,
hear)
Mr. ROME seconded the motion.
The SPEAKER having put the question,
Lord J. RUSSELL said be thought the house was hardly
in a state to enter into a discussion as to the various

measures on which the hon. gentleman had touched, or to
go into the whole question of the government of
India. (Ikar, hear.) He thought the honourable
gentleman had mistaken the position of the go-
vernment and the house on this subject. The position
of the government and the house was this, as a noble friend
of his had stated, that it was not the intention of govern-
ment to move fur a committee of inquiry into the subject
in the present Tear. At the same time that his noble friend
—then Sir J. C. Ilobhouse—promised that every informa-
tion that could be obtained would be laid before the house
previous to the renewal of the act of 1833, his noble
friend did not say it was not the intention of the govern-
ment, when that information should be ready to be laid
before the house, to grant a select committee to inquire
into the whole of those matters before the renewal of the
act. But he did say that her Majesty's government
had no such alterations as were propowd iu 1812 and
1833, alterations of vast magnitude, to recommend
to the committee with a view to consider these

alterations ; but if the house should think fit
to refer to those papers and make every species of inquiry
into the mode of governing India, there would be no objec-
tion whatever on the part of the government. (Hear,
hear.) sow, the course the hon. gentleman opposite (Mr.
Anstey) had taken wan this: he had gone into immense de-
tails of various measures, relating to finance, to law, and
to the general government of India, which, if gone through,
would he found to contain many statements with regard to
measures that had been abandoned, exclusions that no
longer existed, and reforms that were at present in opera-
tion. (Hear, hear.) It was not desirable that there should
be a debate with regard to all these subjects without the
house being in possession of more information than it
had at present. (Hear, hear.) But the hon. gentleman
stated that the best mode of obtaining that information was
to send out commissioners to inquire on the spot into all
these various measures of law, finance, and judicial govern-
ment. Sow he (Lord John Russell) entirely disagreed
with the hon. gentleman on that point. (Hear.) He be-
lieved that to send out these commissioners would be the
very worst mode the crown could adopt, or the government
could advise the crown to adopt. He therefore thought it far
better, if the house should think fit to make inquiry,
that it should be done by a committee of that house,
instead of the house assenting to the proposal pray-
ing her Majesty to appoint a commission of inquiry.
(Hear, hear.) Finally, the present state of the house
was not such as to warrant them in entering into an in-
quiry ; and, therefore, he should oppose the motion.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. though he did not approve of sending a
commission to India, considered inquiry necessary, which
could be assisted by company's servants in that country. He
suggested various points to which that inquiry might be di-
rected, especially the political department. The Afghan
war, he observed, had been begun, conducted, and closed
without the knowledge of the Court of Directors, by the
orders of the president of the Board of Control, who was a
despot, though not so intended by parliament. With Lord
J. Russell he deprecated the abrogation of the Court of
Directors.
Sir J. HOGG said none could be more anxious for an
open and searching inquiry into Indian affairs than the
Court of Directors ; but Mr. Anstey had acted unfairly and
uncandidly, for, while professing to call for inquiry, he
had east the vilest imputations without, and even contrary
to, evidence. One of the great grievances which he said
were unredressed was the exclusion of natives from office;
' but Sir James showed, from the extensive employment of
Sudder Ameers and Moonsiffs, that his statement was:un-
I founded. Ile rectified other misapprehensions of Mr.
Anstey respecting the land revenue, the monopolies of salt
, and opium, and defended Lord Dalhousie against some re-
• Sections of Mr. Hume, observing that no man ever went