The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-20 00:00:00

SUN,

tion in the principle, and that Minister was bound to
assign his reasons for making. such alteration. He (Sir
• J. a:Ng) need not point out hew cotnpiete se protectien
these Things were against any improvidence, any heels,
, • or any impropriety on the part
.f the iaisrd cf Direee
tors, of which this was the practice, aeaq from the pre-
' schtilnclgaaidolthethgereastechroedt; Ocflllitieldn;Ceeve—te'rite kwuh4sershoc4i6ini'ge.
j Tae subject of patronage had been edvertA to; else it
I was, perhaps, a delicate subject fOr him to touch on; but
he had heard what had bean stated on the subject, and
certain returns had been made, of which he should re-
capitulate one or two items to the House. There were
2,900 apPeinimenis, for instance, in the gift of the di-
rectors. Out of this number 1 100 were given among .'
the servants of the company; 1.,700 were given to the
sons of the nobility, the gentry, end professional:men;
and of the rest a large number were conferred on the
sons of naval and military offic:Ts in the service of the
Queen; but the Rifest u 1 ell, he was happy to sty,
were given among the sins of the -clergy. These
returns he should - lay b,fore the. ,Committee,
and it would be for them to say wbaeher
or not the patronage of the E.l.st India
Company was properly distributed. The Hon.
Member for Taunton had alluded to certain abuses
which existed in respect of promising pYreeege when
Directors canvassed for votes. Abuses would, no
doubt, exist, and such, if they exists d, were aelis-
grace to tom who asked the vote, as well as him
who gave it. Bat he (Sir J. Hogg) caulk' most se-
lemnly declare that in the course of his own canvass
even a hope of the kind had never been suggested to
him, except in the case of one individual, and that was
only distantly done, whose support he censeqaently'de-
' elined. The lion. Member for M introse had said that
the Court of Direotors -was not attended regularly. By
law there was an attendance. required once a week.
Many of the direCtors were not, young men—some of
them had other most important avocations—ell of them
were glad to get a little relaxation. But what was the
fact as regarded their attendance? The average at-
tendance of the 24 exceeded 20, and there was no day in
which there were not from four to ten directors in the
India House.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for
Taunton had told the House that the judicial business of
Indit was principally dispbsed of by native agents.
From returns of the whole of India, taking the cases of
original jurisdiction, as contradistingnished from the ap-
peal cases, there were, in the year 1849, the number of
258,574 suits decided, of which 256,151, or 99. per cent.,
were disposed of by native judicial officers, the remain-
ing 2,423, or 1 per cent. of the whole, having been dis-
posed of by European ju icial officers. Then again, in.
cases of appellate and original jurisdiction—the Sadder-.
mance and others were appeal courts—in the
same year, out of 340,918 suits, original and appellate,
altogether disposed of, 319 554, or 93 per
.cent., were
disposed of by natives; while 21 364, orb and a frac-
tion per c,ne, were disposed of by European judges.
If any further proof were needed, it would be found in
the statement of his Right Hon.. Friend (11r. He/Ties),
that, while the appeals from the north-western proviects
amounted to 15 eer cent., she reversals amounted only to
4 per cent. The lion. Member for Taunton had said it
was desirable to have in the direction of he India Com-
pany gentlemen of character, and station, and infleenee,
connected with India, and he (Sir James Hogg) egreed
with him in principle. But his own experience of that
Court had convinced him that it was eminently for the
public good that among the directors there shoal he
some unconnected with India. If they were all con=
ne.,ted with the several services of mi-
litary, and civil—their individual feelings might in the
aggregate amount to a prejudice, la clt"liutle regarding
the Church in this country the sole investigation was not
left to the clergy; net in the case of the law was the in-
quiry left entirely to lawyers; but on all Committees that
were appointed there were generally some men not con-
nect-d with the snbjectin a professional point of view, and
who ie.!), represeeted she strong good sense rf the cem-
triunity. This was his opittioe as regarded the Board
or Directors; ant he was bound to trey that anne.g it e
most useful men that had ever belerged to that b “iy—
t.etteibia' and
ever others
seen wlh7ia. he
In
the
might
the late Sir F. Baring, for instance, :3;r linen I glish,
(Miarin.etsnaonteoute o
eit,Mfr them
period of the lest charter—pri et to 1834—there were 26
vacancies in the Board of Directors, of which 10 were
filled by men who were not connected with India. Since
1834, however, there was only one vacancy so filled, and
that was by a Member of that Rause, one of the most
useful men that could be fixed on. The Court of Di-
rectors, he would say in conclusion, had no object in
view, no wish whatever, except that Parliament should
arrive at that conclusion which should teed most to the
ter-bare of India, and conduce to the prosperity of the
people of India —(gear.)
Sir R. H MGM"; acknowledged his obligations to
his Hon. Friend, but an the same time begged to suggest
an error in one of his statements. lie could assure his
Hon, Friend that the services of his (Sir R. Inglis's)
late tether, to whom •he had referred, were facilitated
and enhanced by the fact of a residence in ladie Since
the time of. Buike, Indian affairs bad been a dinner
bell, and they were so still. Yet thOngh this was a
question that involved the interests of 110,000,000 of
men, perhaps of 150,000,000, there had. seared) been
" a House" at various periods of the discussion. With
the view to the spiritual as well as the temporal in-
terest
of that great empire, he (Sir Be H. Inglis)
hoped, therefore, that those to whom the inquiry was
to be delegated would enter into it with a feeling of
the deep responsibility that rested on them; and that
the conduct of the iuquiry itself would be guided
by a right spirit as regarded religion. There i
had been, as his Right Honourable Friend truly
stated, a gradual increase in the means of spiritual in-
struction since 1793, and he (stir R. H. Inglis) believed
that it had been found that in proportion to the increase
of instruction so Wes the increase of the fidelity of the
people of India to British rule. And when he saw how
imperfect that instruction stall was, he trusted that the
committee would especially turn their attention to pro-
vide for it. He considered that one bishop was not suffi-
cient to manage the spiritual affairs of so vast an em-
pire. With respect to the civil service, the effiliency of
the officials was beyond all praise. Mr. Canning'marle
three selections—Sir J. Munro, Mr. Elphinstone, and Sir
John Malcolm—and Mr. Canning declared that no one
could be- found who was better' quelifiA to conduct the
affairs of India than each of those three gentlemen. He
quite agreed with the Hon. Gent:Mao (Sir J.. Hege)
that it was not necessary to be connected with India
to manage Indian affairs well. It was aivisable to
have Eaglish feeling, es well as ludtan teelicg,
in the direction; and , therefore it was not
proper to have only those men selected who were enn-
necied with India. He sh.uld, th.refore, not be dis-
posed to make any material alteration in the existing
system. Tae stireetnent of the Hon. Gentleman (Sir J.
'Lige) was enough to show there was no corruption in
the made of exercising the patronage. He trustel no
alterafiou would be made in the coostitution of the Court
of Directors, or of the patronage; and when he. recol-
lected the only' independent act—the recall of a Grover-
nor-Gen,rul—bad been signed by one Governor of
Bengal, two other members of the council, and other men
who were experienced in the affairs of India -when be
saw that such an act was sustained by pe,sons eompe-
tent to form an opieion upon if —he sihosuld be very sorry
it) .see toe power, as it at pres-et existed taltea aetty.
lie thought the proposed Unronhsioi, of Inquiry would
be inconsistent with the decision which Parliament was
soon to give on the renewal of the charter, and he there-
fore hoped the Hon. Member would not put the House
t t the trouble of d•vidine on his amendtnent.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL said: Sir, there has been so
much argument already bestowed upon this :tubjeer., that
I certainly de not feel it necessary to off,r in ire than' a
very few rear-2 Am. I rise. ind,ed, principally to state
what in my own mind appears to me the view with
which the committee was appointed. I wish to tike
this opportunity of staging in) opinion up ,n the matter,
because from, seine expressions it ns,ght be supposed
that the committee about to be appointed was one to de-
cide the future government of India —(Hear, hear.)
Teat was not the meaning of the Honourable Gentle-
man. It must be the intention of her Mak sty's Govern-
ment that they she I retain in their own hands the power
of making, when the fitting time arrives, such proposi-
tioes as they may think wise and politic, and that
Parliament retains, in their own hands the power of
deciding upon those propositions.—(kleae, hear.) I
wish therefore to say that I think the appointment of
the committee extremely useful and desirable, and that
if I were in the Government I should concur in its
appointment. The committee will be useful in the way
of collecting iofirmation and making suggestions; and
this is the view in which. it was appointed, more than as
a Committee eatitled in any way to decide upon the vast
question of the future government of India. I say this
the more readily, because in my own mind there is not
much doubt as to the general nature of the future 'go-
vernment of India. I am satisfied with the experience
which we have had, since 1833, of the operation of the
Ant which is now to be inquired into. I will not enter
into the question of the way in which we have obtained
the government of India. The Hon. Baronet Says that
Divine Providence has named us to be the rulers of that
great empire. Be that as it may, we find ourselves in
this generation with a vast responsibility imposed upon
us of giving a government to India. In so doing our
chiefest, our greatest care must be to provide for the
welfare of the millions committed to our sway. That
being our first olio's, it is obvious that there are some
advantages which we cen give theca which they had
either not at all, or in a, very in- dified proportion. In
the first place, .our .great power ought to enable us to
guard them against the ravages of civil broils and petty
wars, which is the secret of much of the misery under
_which the people heretofore groaned. We ought to be
able, with our knowledge of the true principles of jus-
tice, to give them impartial justice. We ought- to
afford them the ability which the great abundance in
this count
pennly of ability for political administration
vide pervert. that.l.Q the next place, we ought to pro-
ction, and the
its the,. most essential of all—for the edu-
in regard to practical
of the people of India, both
administration
oe,.tteal measures of government an the
tion those raletai,
of practical
and _likewise for their educa-
tion
believe
morality which ought to
govern nations.
Coulp.:et
_in all these respects, , if we
have not fully and
great
degree, under the preseinjlY.c still we , have in a
statesraway
the people of India.. u,,,,ear tor pert'erened our duty to
been ihoso wars between
petty which end in the
there have riot
aggrandizement of one of those
(nein of the
as been introduced an
at all cvelits, end in the drgradation and ntlqf wh'etto
le Uoder'our sway there h
pop •
more
administration of justice impartial, and, I believe,
more pure than has heretofore been known to the
swayour en • f in, opie
of that country.
gaie
abilities have gone to India tree tois country, whether
t
occupying the supreme c lainsand as. Govtruiitaak.„„rai,
us, kepuiastone.
or whether in more bern'Jle .eapacit,i.e?, such as alvse
filled by-SirUnder
Thomas Munro
introduce 4 those yaw:anis
our sway there has been latt-1Y
of instruction mud . practical teachina,_..of thp nf.
,goveruniekt. which elevate -043 Peolik and 4ellt winch:
et the pioaehf rise has &rived great advantages,