The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-14 00:00:00

Ibiu ut

LONDON, hIONDAY, JUNE 14, 1852.

A decision has recently been announced by the
Court
of Queen's Bench such as cannot fail to influ-
lanner that question relating to
,on of the East India Com-
must now very speedily come
,n of Parliament. It reveals
,an any circumstance that has
ute and imperative necessity
modification of the powers
the
oat unconditionally, to

Leadenhall-street Directors. Otherwise the gallant
warriors who have conquered such gigantic provinces
of Hindostan must remain altogether at the mercy—
and recent events have proved it to be by no means
the tender mercy—of the traders authorised to admi-
nister the affairs of India in the name of her iliA,.
eeser's Government.
It will be remembered that upon theoccfasisoncinode a
of the
glorious and ever-memorable conquest o
considerable amount of booty was captured by the
Hyderabad. It will be victors of Meanee and
granted
in eacnt toerds
in 1845, by Royal Warm ,
re-
membered that th at
Company,h ot
ttatki
one ntt
the
u see cißtl-08:larf3dt,eorwf
adDseducting
of the East India
whatever quantity of jewels for the Ameers as
might be determined upon by the Government at Cal-
cutta—to distribute the remainder among the officers
and men of the conquering army in shares properly
apportioned. It will likewise be borne in particular
recollection that the residue of prize-money thus set
apart for the triumphant forces who had crossed the
Indus in the February of 1843, had been nobly
earned by a display of resolution seldom paralleled
even in the annals of our Asiatic victories. It cannot,
indeed, be very speedily forgotten that upon the
battle-field of Meanee, on the 17th of that famous
February, 2,600 men fighting under the banners of
England, had routed an opposing force of 15 guns,
5,000 cavalry, and 30,000 infantry A day com-
!parable even to that in 1757, on the blood-
stained plain of Plessey ! It must also be
preserved in remembrance that upon the
eventful occasion referred to, while;the losses of
the Bellooches were enormous, amounting it was con-
ceived to not less than actually 6,000 men altogether,
there fell on our side 6 European officers killed and
14 wounded, with 60 sergeants and privates killed
and 200 wounded ! Therefore with 280 hors de
combat. " Thus," exclaimed Sir WILLIAM NAPIER
in recounting one of the most glorious among the
many glorious triumphs of his heroic brother, the
Conqueror of Scinde, and, what was more, its
successful Administrator, " thus in four hours
2,000 men struck down 6,000 ! Three to
each man ! " It was for miracles of
prowess like this that the booty won with
their good swords and purchased with their
hearts-blood was accorded by Royal warrant to be
distributed among the gallant officers and :pri-
vates—after the deduction of certain jewels for
the Ameers—by the East India Directors. Instead
of jewels, a sum of money making about 15,0001.
sterling, or 150,000 rupees, being paid over to the
Ameers of Scinde, the first distribution of the prize
money was made in 1848, while in 1849 came the
second and final distribution. Subsequently, in the
April of 1850, the East India Directors discovered
that the amount granted to the Ameers had never
been deducted from the aggregate of the prize fund,
and that thus, with another incidental omission,
there was a deficit of from 16,0001. to
17,0001. in the accounts of the Indian Government.
Remember—the blunder was entirely their own—the
army, of course, having no hand whatever in the
process of calculation. Yet what was the course de-
termined to be adopted in this matter by the munifi-
cent traders to whose possessions the magnificent pro-
vince of Scinde had been added by such prodigies of
valour ? Why, they resolved upon reimbursing them-
selves for the error of their accountants by recovering
moneys to the tune of from 16,0001. to 17,000/., by
deductions from the pay of those officers who un-
luckily happened to be within their reach ! To say
the least of it, a somewhat unjust arrangement
—visiting the sins of the clerks upon the unoffending
heads of those who had had no other share in these
transactions than that of imperilling their lives upon
the field of battle. Acting upon this monstrous
determination the Directors made two successive
deductions of 3331. each from the pay accruing to Sir
CHARLES NAPIER in virtue of his office as Com-
mander in Chief of her MAJESTY'S and the Company's
Forces, a post to which he had been appointed by the
express command of the SOVEREIGN and by the
earnest entreaty of the Court of Directors themselves.
It was a graceful thought on the part of those Di-
rectors to deduct the paltry sums of 333/. from the pay
of that very eminent man who was, in regard to
the province of Scinde, both its Conqueror and its
first Administrator. Sir CHA.RLES, however, was
about the last man in the world to submit quietly to
treatment of this really shameless description. He
protested, and his protest was for the moment effec-
tual. The amount of 6661. was refunded—but after-
wards, on a little further reflection, the directors
withheld from the Commander-in-Chief, towards the
close of 1850, the whole of his pay for the month of
October, and a considerable part of that for the en-
suing month of November ! Upon the question of
the legality or illegality proceedings,oftheseys,in the
Courtwas
pronounced within the last few as
of Queen's Bench, by the Lord Chief Justice of
England, that extraordinary decision which altogether
exonerates the Directors of the East India Company
from blame, and virtually declares that there was no
legal obligation on the Directors to pay Sir CHARLES
NAPIER any salary whatsoever in his late important
and responsible capacity as Commander-in -Chief of
the Forces in Hindostan !

A decision so remarkable of its kind commands
the attention both of the country and the Legislature.
For it places the army in India upon a new footing
altogether, and reveals an extent of authority so very
singular and dangerous in its magnitude in the Board
of Directors in Leadenhall-street, as to jeopardize, if
tolerated much longer, the loyalty of the troop, and the
integrity of our oriental possessions. According to thi3
position of things, the Commander-in-Chief, at least,
is placed upon a level subordinate to that of any
other man wearing the QUEEN'S uniform. Why, a
drummer would stand a better chance of escaping
the danger of being thus victimized ! Against the

decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, would seem
to speak very clearly a variety of rather autho-

ritative statutes. By the 53d Geo. 111., cap. 155

it is enacted that " for and daring the conti.

nuance of the possessions and Government of the
said territorial acquisitions and revenues in
the said united company, the rents, revenues, and

profits arising from the said territorial acquisitions,
after defraying the charges and expenses of collecting
the same, shall be applied and disposed of to and for

the uses and purposes hereinafter expressed, in the
following order of preference, and to or for no other

use or purpose or in:any other manner whatever, any
Act or Acts of Parliament now in force to the con-

trary notwithstanding : (that is to say) in the first
place in defraying all the charges and expenses of
raising and maintaining the Forces, As well European
as Native, on the establishments in the East Indies
and parts aforesaid." Either, therefore, the Com-
inander-in.Chief cannot be considexed as numbered

amongst the Forces, or this statute gives the payment
Of his salary precedence over the payment of all
:tete.
7
1 s2alaries. Again—by the 33d G eo. 111., cap. 52,
forces in India, issued by the Paymaster-
General ,
Should
fand 128, it is enacted that 4' the pay of the
the expenses of
be repaid by the Company, and that
said troops Should
the support and maintenance of the
ould be borne and defrayed by the
Yet,japsos the Lord Chief Justice has decided
tChoamtpathniyse,
berni,S
in no sort of obligation on the
perairatlicularized:X •
Governerntitfabcetit,wseiemnpltyhe ncotohminpganymore
Company,
than an arrangement
and
there is the 3rd and 4th Wil-
liam
it bec
Besides the enactments
alreadythe lmp
Commander-in-Chief
which declares that the
Ham IV., care 85, sec.
osra lary
resignation.ehofua dt c eoafs e
its ander-in-Chief should
return to Europe of I, 79
fromgnati_on of his office, and
particular
o have
acvi
er cant mE2ne:teiesei tine eo
deniedco
dot:hee:dneeadeny
cb
eyod of his
statute,
yh i
Yet
t d
ae 3
be deeemed in law to be a resignation
pthaarttuhrze's
commenced.
it must surely
under
inoefnQt"ueen's Bench,
Cease
~,b.ll;:ititieas deci-
sion supposed
'w` e
obligatoryil ave s
eeilip
the
in the Court
the Ist Vict., cap 477 the
sec. 3, which
empowers n there is
Court of Directors, with the consent of the Powers
int? obvious]
Board of
Control, to withhold any amount of pay ii, lieu of
toat which might have been improperly paid to
o`
officers absent from their duty—imply
enough that unless authorised by the express permission
of the Legislature the Board of Directors are
Power-
less to withold pay from their officers. Finally the
3rd and 4th Vict., cap. 37, sec. :35, prohibits any dc.,
duction, other than,the usual deduction?, from the pay
of any officer or soldier of the East India Company's
forces without his consent being obtained. Than
these enactments none could assuredly by any Poi'

.0 : oin a remarkable mi
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...• or revisiol
c.F A) - . IS' eft•Bich
liir':' ''ol4lcler th‘ eln 'aeratior
fc 1, :igtok6 clearly,, ...ijaps, tb,
, tral!PAe„, l'ai. absoli
';' - I." so nlO - ''',. dinar
Ar mithen. -- ''''"' a 1 Y
.r.l • el a rac