The Express.
London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 3.

I F there be one thing which, more than all others,
in connexion with the great question of the future
government of India, it is of paramount impor-
tance to enunciate again and again with renewed
emphasis, it is that the machinery of Administration,
both in England and in India, will be most erroneous

in its construction, and most defective in its work-
ing, if the Councils, either in England or in India.
appointed ostensibly to take an active part in the ad-
ministrative business, are so composed or so consti-
tuted as to be in effect empty delusions. The next
bad thing to no Council at all, is a Council nomi-
nated by its own President. But not only
is it proposed that this system, to a very great ex-
tent, shall obtain in the Home Council, but that all
the Indian Councils also shall be nominated by
their own Presidents. In this latter respect Lord
DERBY'S Bill only follows Lord PALMERSTON'S. It
appears, therefore, that neither of the great parties
in the State has any conception of the importance of
the contemplated change in the constitution of the
Indian Governments. No reason for it has been
alleged ; and we suspect that no reason for it could
be found by the most ingenious inquirer. We
can only surmise, therefore, that it has been inserted
on purpose to be struck out. The sooner the ex-
cision takes place the better.

If there be any argument in favour of the ap-
pointment of Councils in India, that argument no-
assarily extends to the appointment of independent
Councils. That there is such argument we have
had a very clear conception, ever since we perused
the report of &speech, delivered a quarter of a century
ago by an eminent statesman, who had been Presi-
dent of the Board of Control, and who at a later
period budded into a Governor-General, to be cruelly
nipped by the wintry discontent of Leadenhall-
treet, after a short but an exciting period of service.
A quitter of • century ago, that eminent statesman
delivered himself in this wise, and the words may
have a double reading, and be applied as justly to
the Home as to the Indian Councils : " When
" first a man comes to be acquainted with the work-
" logs of the Indian government, I admit that his
" first impression is that it would be con-
" venient that the Governors should not be ember-
" raised by Councillors. There is hardly a circum-
" stance which would not at first sight induce him
"to pronounce that opinion. There is delay, ember-
" remanent. and annoyance, in having • proposition
discussed in Council, in writing minutes and going
" through all those operations in a small room,
" which are gone through by the Ministers here in
"the two Houses of Parliament. It is, in truth,
" very inconvenient, but it makes the Government of
India a Government of Record ; it makes the
" Government here a judge of the propriety of those
" acts done in India ; but, more than that, it con•
" (rola the passion of the Gorernor (or Secretary of
" State); it requires from him reflection as a poll-
" urinary to action ; it leads to that constant record
of proceedings which again establishes a certain,
" as ultimate and not distant responsibility; it is
" a true security against the abuse of absolute
" power." Most wisely and mast truly was this
said, a quarter of a century ago, by one who was
even then a great authority on all subjects of Indian
government. But during the quarter of a century
which has elapsed since these sagacious word, were
spoken, how must the knowledge, the ripen.
mom, the wisdom of that statesman have
ripened under the sun of time. How much
more plainly now than then must he see the
necessity of providing, in every scheme of Indian
government, some " security against the abase
"of absolute power." How much more necessary
now than ever must it appear to him to " control
" the passions of the Governor." A great principle
is here enunciated. The " passions of the Gorse-
" nor" mustbe controlled! But how are they to be
controlled, if there be no Council to control the
Go,ernor, or if, the next thing to it, there is only a
Council of the Governor's own creation ? A man
is not easily controlled by .his own creatures. If
Members of Parliament were chosen by the Minister
of the day, what would there be " to control the
" Governor" of the House of Commons ?

Hitherto the members of the Indian Councils have
teen appointed not by the Governor, but by the
Court of Directors of the East lodia Company.
That Court again is selected not by the Crown, or
the Minister of the day, but by an independent con-
stituency. Now it is proposed that the Crown shall
appoint (wholly in Bill No. 1, mainly in Bill No. 2)
the Home Council, and that the nominees of the
Crown shall appoint the Indian C'ouneils. In accord-
ance with the existing system of Indian Government
the initiatory patronage is vested in a body appointed
by an independent constituency, and the subsequent
promotion of the men thus appointed depends upon
the will of the Governor, who is virtually selected by
the Crown, but is subject to the control of the Court
of Directory, which has the power of recalling him,
and who is associated in the government with a cer-
tain number of councillors appo:nted by that Court
of Directors. At every point there is a constitutional
cheek—" a true security against the abuse of abso-
" lute power." The Governor is controlled at home;
the Governor is controlled abroad. There is security
against the abuse of power in the ability of an in-
dependent authority to recall the representatives
of the Crown in India, and in the constitutional
privilege of another independent body to record
their proceedings—a privilege which we are told
establishes "a certain and not distant respon-
" sibility." And there is security against the
abuse of patronage in the fact that the
initial appointments are made not by the Crown,
but by a Court of Directors elected, for the
most part, by an independent constituency ; and that
the nominees of this Court, selected from among the
middle dames, are wholly unconnected both with the
Governor at home and the Governor abroad. The,