The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-23 00:00:00

EAST INDIA COMPANY.

A quarterly general court of proprietors was held yes-
terday at the India House, Leadenhall-street, Sir J. W.
Hogg, M.P., in the chair.
The Secretary read the minutes of proceedings at last
fleeting.

Mr.. Li WIN begged, in explanation of the course
adopted by him at the last meeting in reference to the
Wellington testimonial, to say that he did not object to
the erection of a statue to the late Duke of Wellington,
but he did object that the expenses should. be defrayed
out of the revenues of India.

ADDISCOMBE INSTITUTION.
Captain M`GREGOR moved that it be recommended to
the honourable the Court of Directors to establish at
Addiscombe a gradnal scale of payments for cadets, re-
ducing the charge for the sons of Indian officers propor-
tionably to the ascertained means of parents, provided
that the same could be effected without increased charge

to the East India Company. lie begged to call attention
to the information to be derived from certain papers which
had been furnished to him, in pursuance of a motion
made by him at a former meeting. Amongst those
papgrs was to be seen an account of the receipts and
disbursements at Addiscombe for four years, from mid-
summer, 1848, to the same period in 1852. The
aggregate expense of the institution was 90,0001. in
round numbers for these four years, and he found the
average cost to the company for each cadet had been
1491. 15s. 7d., of which the cadet paid to the treasury of
the company 1231. 16s. 4d., exclusive of indirect expenses,
which swelled the amount, upon the average, to 160/. a
year: Amongst the cadets were the sons of widows
with probably a stipend of 401. a year, and unless there
were. personal friends to assist young men of that descrip-
tion it might involve their families in difficulties to do so.
He begged to call attention to cases where young men
so circumstanced h-ad been obliged-to withdraw from the
institution because they were unable to bear the expenses,
and reminded the Court that the students at Sandhurst
and Woolwich were differently treated. At Addiscombe
cadets belonging to the same class paid probably four
times the amount that was paid by cadets at Woolwich.
With regard to the advantages which it was said were
enjoyed by the company's officers, he submitted that the
expense, the risk of health, the absence from Europe and
their friends, to which the officers in the company's ser-
vice were exposed, should be taken into consideration
when they drew a comparison between the pecuniary ad-
vantages enjoyed by the Indian officers and the officers
at home ; and certainly, in his opinion, in the lower
ranks, they did not more than compensate for the disad-
vantages to which they were subjected. He proposed
that there should be four classes of cadets in the institu-

tion—the first consisting of the sons of private gentlemen,
who would make an annual payment of 1251. ; the second
of those persons whose circumstances enabled them to
pay 1001. ; the third of a class who, though they merited
at the hands of the company some reduction, were able
to pay 751. ; and he should propose a minimum rate of
501., payable by the sons of a certain class of officers and
of widows. (Hear.)
Colonel DICKENSON seconded the motion.
The CHAIRMAN must feel obliged to any proprietor
who afforded him an opportunity of speaking of Addis-
combe, for there never was an institution that more per-
fectly answered the purposes for which it was established.
He could say from his own knowledge that the heads of
the departments in Woolwich and Sandhurst, who fa-
voured the institution once a year with their presence,
invariably expressed their approval of the manner in
which it was conducted, and of its results, as tending to
the benefit of the public service. However anxious the
honourable proprietor might be to advocate, as he
thought, the rights of the Indian officers, he begged of
him to consider that the Court of Directors stood before
the public as establishing an institution supported to a
considerable extent by public funds and they could not
attempt to make it exclusively a class: institution. (Hear,
hear.) Anxious as they were to sustain the rights of
the Indian officers, they must not lose sight of the pub-
lic at large. (Hear, hear.) Some such scale of expenses
proportioned to the means of the parents of the cadets
had been.frequently under the anxious consideration of
the Court of Directors, who viewed it in every possible
light in which it could be placed, and at one time there
was a strong opinion in favour of such an alteration. It
was fraught with much difficulty, and more than diffi-
culty—with so many objections, showing it would be in-
jurious to the service, that after full and deliberate consi-
deration the plan was not carried out. (Hear.) To ap-
portion the sums payable according to the means of the
parents, was an impossibility, because they would thereby
establish a system of scrutiny into the means of each indi-
vidual that should be most strenuously resisted. There
must be some institution where those students would get
a military education, and he thought the expenses of a
private institution would nearly approximate to those in-
curred at Addiscombe. But suppose they should agree
to give the appointments to persons in embarrassad cir-
cumstances, they would throw the expense wholly on the
public, and bring the institution to a close. The com-
parison between the Queen's service and the company's
was one in which he would not indulge, and he would
impress upon hon. proprietors that it was not a judicious
comparison. Did the honourable proprietor wish that
the condition and allowances of the Indian army should
be assimilated generally to the condition and allowances
of the Queen's army ? (Hear, hear.) He hoped the ar-
gument was not to be pressed so far. He would press
upon the friends of the Indian army (being as interested
in its welfare as any living man) not to bring forward a
comparison between the two services, attempting, above
all, to show that the Indian officer was placed in a worse
position than the Queen's officer. He thought there
was not an Indian officer of common prudence who was
not in a condition to support his son at Addiscombe,
and who would not be most thankful to have an oppor-
tunity of placing him there. The institution at Addis-
combs was not established exclusively for the benefit of
the Indian army, but for the benefit of India, and for the
purpose of supplying the public service in that part of
the empire. (Hear, hear.) A director was bound
to give the Addiscombe appointment to one who
could pay ; but if they should adopt the plan of
the honourable proprietor, and give up that con-
sideration altogether, and give the appointments
to the humblest persons, making the public pay for
it, they would place them in a position in which persons
invested with public patronage should not be placed.
He trusted the honourable proprietor would feel that he
had discharged his duty in bringing forward the motion,
and would not press it.
• After a few words from Mr. Lewin, Mr. Clarke, and
Capt. Doveton, the yesolution was negatived.
CASE OF ALI MORAD.

The CHAIRMAN said the next motion on the paper was
in the name of Colonel Dickenson ; but he begged to
inform him that the report of the commission appointed
to investigate the charges against Ali Morad had been
rendered by the House of Commons, and was now be-
fore the Court of Proprietors. It was so voluminous it
was not copied, but it was on the proprietors' table, and
open for inspection.
Colonel DICKENSON moved that copies of the report of
the commission which was appointed in 1850-51 by the
Governor-General of India, to investigate certain charge
against Ali Morad, Ameer of Kyrpoor, in Upper Scinde,s
and of the minutes thereon by the Indian Government,
and also of the report on Scinde by Sir George Clerk,
late Governor of Bombay, be laid before the Court of
Directors.
A PROPRIETOR suggested that the motion was unne-
cessary, the chairman having stated that the papers were
on the table.
The CHAIRMAN said that, according to the usage of
Parliament, when a motion was unopposed and the
papers asked for were granted, it was not usual to make
observations. The papers having been granted, the time
for discussion would be when the papers were in the
hands of every gentleman. All the papers included in
the hon. proprietor's motion were laid before the court,
with the exception of the report of Sir George Clerk,
which the House of Commons at present refused to pro-
duce, and it was not usual for that court to require the
production of documents which the Minister of the day
had felt it to be his duty to refuse to Parliament. As
this single document had been refused by Parliament at
present, he felt assured the hon. proprietor would not be
disposed to press for it.
Colonel DICKENSON considered that the court was the
great barrier between the Government and the natives
of India, and when papers were refused by Parliament
the chairman should not rise to interrupt him, because
the gentlemen of the court might be of opinion that it
was a necessary link in the chain of evidence to have
those papers. On the departure from India of the gal-
lant officer by whom the conquest of Scinde was effected,
a memorandum was left by him respecting Ali Morad,
which caused Sir George Clerk, Governor of Bombay, to
have the circumstances inquired into. A commission
was appointed, composed of the most experienced and
talented officers, the object being to convict Ali Morad
of serious crimes. The report referred to was necessary
to enable them to arrive at the truth, and, therefore, he
moved for its production with the other papers.
Colonel SULLIVAN seconded the motion, which, after
some discussion, was negatived.
MAPPING OFFICE AND SURVEY DEPARTMENT.
Colonel DICKENSON said the next notice of motion on
the paper had also been given by him, and it was to the
effect that some improved organisation of the survey de-
partment in India, and of the mapping office in this
country, is urgently called for, to make available the
statistical data and geographical delineations with which
there is reason to believe the records of the Government
have been long enriched ; also to secure the advantages
of the survey still in progress, and of those which may
hereafter be undertaken in the company's territories, or
in those of their allies. He did not feel it necessary,
however, to proceed with this motion, and would there-
fore withdraw it.
The CHAIRMAN thought the honourable proprietor haC
reason to be satisfied, because when they had ascertainec
what he desired it was at once agreed to. The mai
prepared by Mr. Walker combined clearness with detail,
as much as any map could do. There was also the map
of the Surveyor-General, and he was glad to hear from
I the honourable proprietor that they afforded him satis-
faction.
The motion was withdrawn.

EXTENSION OF THE RIGHT OF VOTING.
Mr. LEWIN moved the following resolution :—" That
the Court is of opinion that the privileges of electing