The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-15 00:00:00

THE SUN,

than it has hitherto been through the dubious
inuendoes and bewildering generalities indulged in
by the principal candidates in their electioneering
speeches. More secure may we feel that such will
really be the event, now that the Opposition has re-
solved upon extorting from the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, or from one or other of his colleagues,
something more than words of mystery and preva-
rication.

Nevertheless, while we insist that some candid
avowal as to the exact nature of their policy may
be looked forward to by the House of Commons
from the Right Hon. Gentleman the Financial Mi-
nister of the Government, we must still continue to
maintain, as we have strenuously and dispassionately
maintained from the outset, that it will be nothing less
than factious to place any serious or insurmountable
obstacles at the present moment in the way of her
MAJzsres Government. That the House of Com-
mons should know before voting the annual supplies
what are the precise tendencies of the Cabinet whose
members demand those supplies from the Legislature
is, of course, reasonable enough under every point of
consideration. Yet, it must be allowed, as in every
way equally reasonable, that Ministers situated as
the present Ministers are should not be prevented
from carrying on the business of the country simply
for the gratification of party feeling, or for the con-
solation of certain powerless and disappointed ad-
ministrators. The good of the country, the peace of
the' country, the prosperity of the country,
the happiness of the country, require that
the ordinary estimates should be made in
due course before the newly coustructed
Cabinet be forced into a deadly fight for its existence,
a contest such as must inevitably lead to an imme-
diate dissolution of the present Parliament. Now
a dissolution taking place at this particular
juncture—before the supplies have even been

whispered of in the House of Commons—would,
under all circumstances, be little else than disastrous.
Besides—it should be borne in recollection, if
only out of motives of honour, not to say
of magnanimity (about which Lord Joint Rus-
SELL appears to know absolutely nothing), that some
regard in this matter more than customary should be
had in reference to her MAJESTY'S Ministers, seeing
that their call to office is attributable not to their own
eager and factious exertions to obtain power, but to
the exigency of the moment, to their own
acknowledged surprise, and in compliance with the
demands made upon their loyalty by their SOVE-
REIGN. Remember, upon this point the late Cabinet
was broken up, not by any blow directed against it by
the Protectionists, but by thv3 trenchant and
avenging brand of the great political chieftain—the
ARON of the recent Government according to the
graceful panegyric of the celebrant .of " King Arthur"
—the knightly champion who
" Rode to war no vizor on his holm," -

the administrator of whose chivalric patriotism it has
been inferentially said—
" Who hated Cymry, hated Axon most:"

and yet one who, notwithstanding his genius, his
civism, and his valour, had so very recently and so
very heinously been treated by his colleagues with
insult and ingratitude. The Russell Government
re vas destroyed, therefore, we peat, not upon
any motion of Mr. DISRAELI, bum upon a motion
made by Lord PALMERTON—act upon any ques-
tion relating to the revival of the corn-laws,
but to one referring exclusively to the re-organization
of the militia. t oniequently we maintain that senti-
ments of honour as well ai .sentiments of patriotism
impel the representatives of the p,:)ple of England
to place no embarrassing obstruction at this
particular juncture in the way of the, present Govern-
ment. Hear what its members have to relate as to
the nature of their intended policy—elicit from
them some accurate statement as. to their inten-

tions, in the event of their revealing any disposition to
evade inquiry—but do not, for the sake of • the
out of II totives at once
general welfare, do not,
of honour and of magnanimity, interfere with the
course of the routine business of the country,
by placing a factious obstacle in the diffi-

cult path just adventured upon by the ruling
Administration. While we persist in upholding this
view as the most generous and the most advisable
in the present instance, we cannot conceal
from ourselves the fact that Lord JOHN RUSSELL
has the intention (after having advised her MAIESTY
to send for the Earl of DERBY as his successor) of

factiously, perversely, and petulantly—upon a silly
pretext that free trade is in danger—administering
at this early period a death-blow to the but recently
created Government. Should this somewhat paltry
intention of the Noble Lord be frustrated his will

still be the guilt. Scelus intro se taciturn qui cogitat
ullurn facti crimen habet. For the good of the nation;
however, let us still hope that after the Ministerial state-
ment of this evening, the estimates may be brought
forward in due course, and the routine business of
the country be deliberately accomplished, instead of
a dissolution of the House of Com►nons being pre-
cipitately forced upon her MAJESTY'S Government.

The summary dismissal of Colonel OUTRAM from
his situation as Resident at Baroda, by order of the
Bombay Government, will, we have no doubt, lead to
inquiries of the most stringent and searching
character, the result of which must necessarily prove
exceedingly important at the present moment, when
the renewal of the Charter to the East India Company
is about to be brought under the consideration of the
Imperial Parliament. The investigation cannot,
however, be restricted to a single case. Colonel
OUTRAM, as a British officer once highly favoured,
nominated to a position of great trust and considerable
emolument, having many influential friends, and
the means of sustaining and vindicating his
character, will unquestionably obtain the fair
trial which is the privilege of every British sub-
ject, and which should be accorded to every indivi-
dual who has been in any degree injured by the Bri-
tish Government, or any person deriving authority
under or through that Government. If there be any
feeling that prevails beyond all others in the hearts of
Englishmen, it is an inherent love of justice and fair
play. Accustomed to a public administration of the
laws by men of great learning, of vast experience, and
of unimpeached and unimpeachable honour and inte-
grity, they can scarcely conceive the possibility of
any corruption on the Judicial Bench, or of any of
their grave and venerable judges being in any
degree influenced by improper motives, or of the de-
cisions of a high tribunal being affected
by pecuniary bribes to -the presiding magistrates.
Any charges on such points are therefore regarded
as almost incredible, and it is not until after a strong
Prima facie case has been established that they will
be deemed worthy of even serious consideration.
But there is another point en which the feeling is
equally decided, and that is that no man shall be con- '
damned unheard, or without having a full opportu-
nity of heating every matter that may be alleged
against him, and of rebutting the accusations by ,
every legitimate means.
When that constitutional
right—the very
foundation of our national liberties—
is
withheld or tampered
everywith, full and ample relief
will be afforded, end
honest man, however
deeply biassed or pre'eer
J leEd he may be, will to the
utmost extent of his abilities insist on am le redress
being accorded to the aggrieve,
P
party.
Now we do not come forward as
the defenders or
gists for ColoneluTaele e„,
apologis O
vv e merely allude
to his case as another and a powerful illustration of
system which prevai
the unjustifiable a under the
Anglo-Indian Government,
andagainst which we
have repeatedly recorded our solemn and, earnest
protests, in reference to the case of the unfortunat
and deeply injured PEETAUB SINGEL, the deposed
Raja of Sattara, who was not only deprived of els
dominions and consigned to what was practically
little better than incarceration at Benares, but whose
bonci fide private property was confiscated, in delibe-
rate violation of the unequivocal assurances of the
Resident and the solemn pledges of the Bombay Go-
vernment. The inquiry that has been so constantly and
perseveringly demanded has hitherto been evaded on the
most frivolous and insufficient grounds, but we
cannot conceive how it can be denied when the in-
evitable investigation into the causes of the dismissal
of Colonel OUTRAM shall be instituted, more espe-
cially as it will go far to justify the report, for which
the ex-Resident at Baroda has been so severely
treated.
We shall only briefly refer to the causes which led
to the disgrace of Colonel Otrsteter, but which will
be amply sufficient to establiakthe
_imperative nue,.

M:4,6 ta

au Na gg& 0,

weeetalw

LONDON,

city of a Parliamentary inquiry. It appears that
general rumours were circulating, and strong sus-
picions entertained of the existence of gross and
habitual bribery and corruption, not only in the local
tribunals but also in the superior courts of the
Bombay Presidency. It was loudly asserted that the
course of justice was but too frequently perverted, and
that wrong could prevail over right, if sufficiently
liberal doucsurs could be conveyed to the judicial
authorities. We do not say that these grave charges
were well founded, but they undoubtedly received
considerable circulation, and even particular instances
were cited in whiCh it was declared that gross in-
justice had been practised.
These rumours at length reached the Government,
and a circular was issued to the principal officers
throughout the Presidency, requiring information on
the subject, and among others to Colonel OuntArtt,
as Resident at Baroda, where one of the most promi-
nent cases was said to have occurred. Colonel
OUTEAM, as in duty bound, returned a full and
explicit answer to the inquiry, although it
was by no means palatable to the authorities.
There can be no doubt but that if the answer
had been of a favourable character—it would have
been confidently appealed to as decisive on the point,
and as conclusive against the validity of the allega-
tions. But, contrary to expectations, Colonel
OUTRAM declared that " the suspicions referred to
were currently and; practically operative throughout
the whole district within his cognizance," and ho also
declared a strong opinion in favour of parties whom
he believed to have been seriously injured by un-
warren table and unjust decisions.
Now, if this report had been made maliciously, or
even on trivial or insufficient grounds, it would, in-
deed, be deserving of severe censure and stringent
punishment. But the officer by whom it was
made should be allowed to set forth the reasons
by which he was actuated in arriving
at such a conclusion, and establishing the ben& fides
of his opinion. No such opportunity was permitted
to Colonel OUTRAM. He- was at once superseded
from his lucrative and important situation, and the
dangerous precedent was established that, if public
officers do not decide the questions referred to them
in accordance with the wishes of their superiors, they
must be content to suffer the most serious conse-
quences. If this be a recognised course, we can
readily conceive how useless must be the testimony of
officials when favourable to the Government, and what
weight should be attached to the honest remonstrances
put forward by conscientious men, regardless of the
too probable results of their earnest and energetic

appeals.
Considerable light is new thrown on the causes of
the severe reprimand inflicted on a gallant and meri-
torious officer, Major CARPENTER, the Governor-
General's agent at Benares, for having dared, while
rendering the explanations which were required from
hien, to offer his disinterested and unprejudiced opi-
nion as to the entire innocence of the royal prisoner—
an opinion the expression whereof must necessarily
prove exceedingly prejudicial to his own future pros-
pects, and which nothing but a strong sense of justice,
and an earnest determination to suffer no merely pri-
vate or personal motive to interfere with his iropera-
tive,duty as an upright and honest man, could have
elicited. The statement of the gallant officer in this
respect is so straightforward and conclusive, that we
cannot refrain from transferring it to our columns.
He says—
" When the Raja was consigned to my charge, early
in 1840, I considered it necessary, for the efficient dis-
charge of my duties, to make myself fully acquainted
with the cantles of his dethronement, his general reputa-
tion for intrigue, and other circumstaeces connected with
his character and conduct, to enable me to form a just
estimate of the man with whom I had to deal, and to
guard against the consequences that might arise from
any laxity of surveillance on my part. To this end I
carefully studied the whole of the voluminous documents
connected with his case, and the result tow a belief in his
innocence; and this belief has been confirmed beyond a
doubt by subsequent disclosures, and by his pledging himself
to prove it, if permitted to do so, in his letter to Sir Henry
Hardinge, of the 12th of :December, 1844, forwarded
through me, and which pledge I am fully persuaded he is
able to redeem."
For this he was strongly„censured, being informed
that the assertion of his conviction of the ex-Rea.e's
innocence of the charges of which he had been con-
victed, and of his (the RAJA'S) ability to prove his
innocence, was "as unbecoming aslit was uncalled
for ;" and again, that whatever his (Major CARPER-
TER'S) private opinions, and whatever the real facts of
the ex-RAJA's guilt or innocence might be, such con-
duct and communications were " entirely inconsistent
with the position of agent to the Governor-General
charged with the care and superintendence of the
ex-RAJA and his domestic arrangements ; and
with the execution of the Government orders in re-
spect to his treatment and position." Fortunately for
Major CARPENTER, the illustrious captive was then
living, and it did not suit the policy of the Anglo-In-
dian Government to have the public attention drawn
to his case. Had it been otherwise that gallant and
high-minded man might more bitterly have expiated
his military frankness in revealing unwholesome and
inconvenient truths.
But it was not only by persons on the spot
that the severity with which the injured Prince was
treated, and the bad faith and duplicity exhibited to-
wards him, was unequivocally condemned. We find
that many even of the directors recorded on the
minutes of the court their earnest and solemn protests
on the same subject, when Major-General ROBERT-
SON, Sir ROBERT CAMPBELL, Lieut.-Colonel SYKES,
Major OLIPHANT, and Messrs. SHEPHERD, PLOWDEN,
and LoCH, entered their deliberate dissents from the
course adopted by their 'colleagues on the same sub-
ject, Mr. SHEPECERD boldly referred to the instruc-
tions contained in the letter from the then Governor
of Bombay, Sir J. R. Caltstec, to Lieutenant-Colonel
OVENS, the resident at Sattara, that the RASA was to
be treated " as an c.bject of sympathy, not of punish-
ment ," and to the 'pledge of the Governor that " his
(the RADA's) private property should not be inter-
fered with," and 'pertinently inquired, " could any
usage, or precedent, justify the breach of this pro-
mise ?" The Hon. Gentleman added, "To me,
therefore, it appears. that the confiscation and transfer
of his (Pairrann Snecies) property to the present
BAJA is an additional penalty inflicted oa this unfortu-
nate Prince, not warranted by any considerations what-
ever." He also contended " that the act was ILLEGAL,
the regulations of ou:r Government guaranteeing to all
our subjects the free, possession of the property held
by them, until they shall be deprived of it by the
judgment of a court .of competent jurisdiction."
The protests of MI ijor OLIPHANT and Major-Gene-
ral RonzarsoN are, however, even more important,
referring as they do. to the mode in which all inquiry
into the, charges preferred by KRUSHNiJEE SIJDA-
SEW RHIDEY, one of the principal accusers of the
unfortunate Prince,: was suppressed on the report of
Lieutenant-Colonel OVENS, the party' chiefly impli-
cated, and that although " the said KR,IISIINAJEE
had entered inte+ heavy recognizsnces, him-
self in 5,000 rupees, and a friend in 1,000
rupees, to prosecute the charge, with the
certainty of being subjected to severe punishment, if
found' guilty of defa.mation," and having even fur-
nished a list of the 'witnesses, whose evidence would,
as he asserted, confirm the accuracy of his statement?,
these statements accusing Lieutenant-Colonel OVENS
of personal bribery and corruption, declaring that
" he had obtained from the Raja of SATTARA (APE-A
SAHIB) payment of the sum of 1,500 rupees per
mensem, to his (the, Resident's)_fatile_r•i_a7law, which,

on his death, we.s transferred to the Resident's
brother-in-law, and. that when the Resident's lady and
children proceeded to England, gold bullion and Ve-
netian necklaces wire purchased and given to the
Resident to the value of 50,000 rupees," acquire
additional significanice at the present moment, in con-
sequence of the dismissal of Colonel OUTRAN, and
the grounds of that dismissal.
w
'We do not say that these grave accusations were
founded. Go.o forbid that we should condemn
any man without ;illowing him to make his full de-
fence. But
we hopo and trust for the honour of the
British name that when the case of Colonel Ountam
is investigated, the ri
umerous petitions of Kitusnrie-
JEld SUDASEW Bila-DRy
and th
SINGH may also be considered, in order that the
memory of that rau.c h-wronged -ease of anT
ce may be vindi-
catedaun and tardy juutice accorded to his lawful heir
P
and successor,—and: that the character of England
tan
for fair play Da7137 be re-established in the
eyesu h of
anativestti
Ircctfhliinwdioll ultimately prevail,
s —that they may be
g
however i
powerful ttai influences by which it may for
taught
thet h
vieps t