The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-03-17 00:00:00

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN INDIA.

Mr. Hume rose, puttuant to muter, to move for
(Titans, Papers relative to the Adintiii-tration of
Justice in the dominions of the E. c.t l ain (7mm
piny.oiling that the l'apris sve,e mot likely to
be objected to by the Prrtitieot of the Baird of
Coistrot, as lie was toot prepared to take an exten-
sive view of the subject, lie thought he should act
wisely cud prud.•ntty at, inertly snaking one or two
obsetvations. He %v.'s noxious, then, that the
Iloure should model...taw' hit the whole judicial
spurn of India had bre', completely tricorpretent.
ecl In this country; the people home were in per-
fect ignorance of the adialitivdr,a ion of jo.tier, mit
end criminal, and the tosiingeolesit of the ',toilet
there. 11hat be should state was not derived from

rourcet Of priv,:te iiiforinalimi, but from official
paper• laid un the table long since. The Iteport of
the Committee of 1810 shrived the magnitude of
the evil 1114 would requite the Collected
W 1.410111 Or the I !owe to provide is reinrily far ; nod
he Wit% sure, that It Members %sere it,
the informalinis contained Milts papers he
move for, they would resiltly apply themselves to
Ike discovery of one. At the pirsr.,r mmuem,
its4l fur twelve years pest, the ilrfrt•te of the Jos
&tried stlonmstrstinn in nor po•aestemis
were esiormons. Civil justice was dewed—lines
were imposed on the strphrattots of
distils for the redress of tlietr w
suitors we►e. compelled to pal• an the ima,4
they sought to recover, st the rate of from .50 down
to I per cent. That such was the fart appeared
from the Resolutions of 1813, oil the Lble—
owl when, he should state that the claims
the !greatest number of persons whip want tutu
Ilie Courts to compel the vsynietit of debts,
were for small sums under one lintitlreil te,uude,
that the fees on entering their causes, aril- not less
Ihan eight or ten per cent.—that the stamps re.
tpured iti the proceedings sv.allowell up windier
lornportion of the original ilematiii, awl the fees to
lawvt•rs sti!l toner. The lion.•• won't! cee that the
inhabitants of those distant regions could ont ob-
tain that justice which was deuit out lir Ihrtn cutler
the Native hinces. But, moreover, thousstols soil
tens of thous:Hots of cases were lying in the C to
there tinitleriited—soil the some Resolutions stated,
that a term.mition of then could nut be rsorco.ol
in the t•outre of the. longest Itfe. The consequences
of these things was en increase of crones in Bengal,
and sixty millions of people were rendered less just
in their dealings, mud lea moral in their conduct.
I Its object was sot to censure inditiolnals, but to
expose the evils lif the sy►trst. The plan Inid
down for the administration of justice by the
Marquis Cornwallis, in the year 1793, had been
adopted in some districts, rod rejected in others, so
that there was a want of uniformity, which was also
a serious evil. He thought he laid said entomb In
induce the Hou►e to assent to his proposition, and
should therefore more float there be laid before the
House copies or extracts of all dispatches Iron the
Court of Directors ol• the East India Compatiy to
the local authorities, respectiong the administration
of justice in their dominions, civil mod military, and
the police establishment, loom the veer 181 U to the
latest time the same 4111 be made up.
The question having been put,

Mr. CANNTNI) said, he did trot thiok it nPetP.
wiry to follow the Hon. Gentlemen through till his
observations. especially as he saw no reason to refsi.e
his assent to the production of miy papers which
would really promote his object. Much difference
of opinion had certainly irevailed among able men
out the system of judicial administration established
in tint indeed respecting its intrinsic excel-
lence, of which there could not be much &mist,
but respecting its applicability to the people for
whose use it had been there introduced. He ac-
knowledged that he had not himself formed a de-
cided opinion on the latter point; but whatever
might be thunglit on it, he was sure that in spy
watching a system which had the sanction of the
great flame of the Marquis Cornwallis. end on the
establishment of which his repntation principally
depended, every Member ought to speak with
diffidence.—(llear, hear.)—He felt with the Ho-
nourable Gentleman That the proceedings of the
legal authorities in India should be kept under
the vigilant sionetiotroidence of the 'sowers at homer
and dist was the least pledge fur their correctness
and purity : rod on that ground he had no objet.
firm to agree to a few of the lowers desired br the
111,11. Gentlemen. Ile hail looked over his list mid
selected four as fully vinyl-y.lm( all the information
oecessary. Had hr.. indeed, desired to thwart the
I 100. Gentleman in his views of inquiry and investi.
gallon, lie would have emoted to laying all the
papers on the table, for he could assure hint they
were MO voluminous he should never be able to get
through and give the House the benefit of his ob-
servations on them. Ile then stated, that the
pspers hi had Need on were those specified in the
the first, second, third, and seventh motions.

Lord APORPITH gave it is his 'teeniest opinion,
that however the Government of this country might
heap expenses oti the inhabiters's, and crush the
Native States of Indio, hopes of * pernoment do-
minion there could Indy be footitird oil the establish-
Mg of a mild mid equal siitstinistrotion of justice.
Sir W. BURROUGHS said, that in ii.Ct no justice
whatever was to be procured by the irativey of India,
la Coe the system iiiiroduced by the Marquis Coro-
wulii,. The illlrt.llllClinii broach tl spite4ll (excel.
lead as it was) rim al place where there was no its...
lice berme, and 00 provision for liar distill utiu,, of
must have been attended with difficulties:
meriallpigly, its progress bad oat been so florid us
the se who foresaw the beneficial results of its ge-
could wish. But the progress fool
heel' as great a. could be expected, and had trot
only gutsily cokti dotted to the good order sod hap.
pities', of the pr(ll.le subject to the Kodiak autho-
rtt , but had pri•cored a respect Isir our govern-
mum. eocosiisgetl ratio-idiots from other dis-
tricts. The ..y.tellit war yet only ill Its iiifititey, 1411,1
greater Iwo. tits than Nov yet extort icsictol were to he
nuticipated from it. With I•ClTtet to the police--
the impulsions of Calcutta (5,11101(11 of b• V.ll or
eight hundred thousand people, mixed lip of v
oso• and lii *shoo a Italic of 'miser II
to That city, was not a matter of 1.r:11111y ; Icy the ex-
ertiohs of other todges, sod prima!, illy himself, an
immense i4tproverneiit had been t ll;sciert.
Mr. HUME said, he had wished to strike it selec-
tion of the papers himself, but that the Court of
Dtrecturs would not allow him to do go. Ile flint'
cited a psseage from s paper on the table, to .Ibeit,
the hoih.e., or the police etstem• It staled, that per-
souls apprehelitled frequently died 5,i prison
they were hi ought to an examimitirm. The fin-
hourable Geotlericin complained that the whole
police of Bengal was carried on by means of spies,
the heads of bautlitties pardoned by Government,
and let loose to plumier the country. They were
encouraged in the pursuit of their occupat 44444 by
grants of Money on the conviction of the (pow*
(Brads of robbers). So far from economy bring
observed i ii the enairitioniug of the judicial system.
it cost more in 11111114 1111181 In till Europe. While
the whole IPyrisur of Indio was but seventeen oil.
linos, the House would scare- ly believe that the
judicial admitiittratiiiii cost 1.558.0001. nearly the
vie-eleventh part of it. 'ltie lion. Member, in

•
condo:tor, iii4hlv
ludas by Nit. Alai*.
eommttaled a pul.iication on
111 r. iltllCllltaStiN Wt., that from the
of tit:4l6llg tip poperoollooe moved for could nut lie
exp. vied fat tonne t.ine, Ile tie.r for the purrit..e
entail co.:le:totro the toreetolt"
cot imilures.islit the Wind of the Itielitlloolti.ta(ktiiii4-{
aoutr tuen.ures themselves, without waiting for the
documents, for the adoption of a better .)item of
judicial administrat in that extensive country.
the 'population of which otos stated to amount to
sixty mullion He hail no objection to the pro-
duction of the papers, but be was desirous that
some step might be teheu speedily.
Mr. CAN NI! gni& that if lie Well understood
the Ilmsour,jible Gentlemen (Mr. Hume) to bare
made any crier*. of neglect !against the Govern.
ment at bone, he would have felt it his duty to
answer his;. The question wants not whether
should receive a good adm:oistrative systems
tor lattice, but whether the systern they enjoyed was
well suited to them. A difference of opinion 114(1
bliflp4.ll between tery inteitt4ent prrnur, whether
thesystros introduced by the Marquis torinvaiii.,
title of the best of men that ever lived, w:.* ur wit.,
tint adopted to the wool., eti.isem, nod habits of
die inhabitants of India. If the titifr,tiutt de-
pended on bilut.elf, he was not prepared to say
that he would abolish or maintain it. A great
improvement had bee; introduced into the pm
tier of Calcutta, NIA it might be baked upon
as settled. When lie hail said Ilse pairet% were vo.
Intniuoua, 6e dui not sown; to censure the lion.
Gentleman. lle had ,elected the piper!' that
*reined to c..titroivesll the triateri.sl information de.
sired, without the etribarnssaing particulars I de.
tails, and if they should Ise found insufficient, be
was ready to produce athliiimirl ones.
Sir W. BUIROUGIII said, that by the proviiimis
of our law, natives were excluded from all offices
or trutt, honour. nod towel.% There weft
about one hundred Judges employed by the COW.
puny. all Europeans, each of whom sat seven or
'tt,„tlit hours every day.
The minim, was then agreed to.
The following vipers were then ordered to he
laid before the lln e r :
ACC/11111i of the eXpenoit. of the Pol.re Ertrililichment
fur the dote Preaidenuva of NI Honda', and Calcutta,
I'ro'n 11se year 1792, to the year 11614.
Au Account of the amount of the rharce. for the jnairial
morn u, the same Preatileurie% for the foilfile perms",
sli:issomi.slistsx drat fur each, awl aim. the principal broils
of t aprtirliture.