The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-21 00:00:00

A special general court was held by this company yes-
terday, at their house in Leadenhall-street—Mr. Russell
Ellice in the chair.
The minutes of the last Court having been read,
The CHAIRMAN informed the Court that they had met
in pursuance of an adjournment from Monday fortnight,
to consider the bill then before Parliament to provide
for the future government of India. The opinion of
the directors had been expressed in the correspondence
which had been distributed among the proprietors, and
he hoped also that they were in possession of all the
evidence that had been given before the committees of
the two Houses of Parliament on the subject. Under
these circumstances, he had only to invite hon. gentle-
men on the other side of the bar to a discussion of the
bill, and he should be happy to hear their sentiments
upon it.
Mr. HUME said, that having an opportunity of express-
in.. his opinions elsewhere, ho would not long occupy
the attention of the Court ; but he could not help ob-
serving that there existed this anomaly—that while the
Court of Proprietors was in possession of the correspon-
dence between the Board of Directors and the Board of
Control, the House of Commons did not yet possess that
correspondence. The ignorance which prevailed on this
subject was extremely great. Petitions were presented
to the House of Commons evincing so much ignorance
of the real circumstances of India, that he considered it
would be rash to proceed to legislation without further
information.. He could not better illustrate this than by
reading a few lines of a petition presented a few days
ago from Birmingham. Birmingham had followed the
course of Manchester. The petitioners lamented the
general poverty and depression of the population of
India, that their industry should be undeveloped, that
little had been doue -improve ..tho,meanu
-Communication, t srala'be delayed, and that
enormous sums should • be raised and immense sacri-
fices made to carry on wars in neighbouring
States. They also lamented that the Indian finances
were becoming more and more embarrassed ; they
therefore desired that there should be established
a home administration, to be appointed by the
Crown, and to be directly responsible to the Imperial
Parliament —meaning thereby that India should be
placed in the same position as other colonies and depen-
dencies were now placed in. (Cheers.) He warned the
court on this point. Mr. Hume, in order to show how
greatly the truth of the case had been exaggerated in
the few lines of this petition, referred to the evidence of
persons well acquainted with India, who proved that
this representation was altogether false and unfounded.
Both imports and exports had greatly increased—the
first from 6,000,0001. to 17,000,0001. in the period that
had elapsed since 1834, and the latter horn 8,000,0001.
to 18,000,0001. With regard to the debt, it had been
asserted that the company had wasted the resources of
India ; but, so far from that being the case, he could
prove that the revenue of India had every year increased,
and that, but for the enormous expenses of three
wars entered into, not by the company, bat by the
Government of this country, there would have been an
ample surplus. He should, in his place in Parliament,
call for papers to support this his opinion. The Aff-
glian war coati 15,000,000/. ; the war in the Punjaub,
with the expense of what was now going on in Burmah,
cost 13,000,0001. more—thus making 28,000,0001. ex-
pended on wars over which the company had no pos-
sible control. The only security for their dividends
given by the act of 1833 was upon the surplus revenue
of India ; but if that revenue was exhausted by wars,
the proprietors had no legal resource from which to de-
rive their dividends. If, then, the power of govern.
ing India should be taken from the company, what
security would they have for receiving their dividends,
amounting to 633,000/. ? In the negotiation about the
renewal charter, in 1833, Sir Charles Grant (now Lord
Glenelg) stated, that the power of governing India was
not to be taken from the company—they were still to
conduct everything as heretofore, except in regard to a
few secret and private political matters. The real in-
tention, therefore, was, that the Court of Directors were
to have the management of everything connected with
the interest of India, and that the Board of Control
should have a vete ever their proceedings. But, had the
company in reality the government of India ? Would
the Affghan war have been sanctioned by them ? But it
was a question whether that was not a European war,
with the expenses of which the natives of India ought
never to have been. saddled. (Hear, hear.) Instead,
_ _

therefore, of 15,000,0001. being added to the debt
of the company, it ought to have been defrayed
by the Imperial Government. He must say,' that
he did not think the Court of Directors had dis-
charged their duty is this matter. They were con-
sidered a popular body, intended to check the proceed-
ings of the Government, and they ought to have ex-
plained to the proprietors that these expenses were being
incurred, and that they had no means of preventing
them. If the directors had done that, the proprietors
would have given them power. Not only would their
dividends be endangered if the Government of India
were transferred to the Imperial Government, but all
the great undertakings that had been entered upon
would be stopped. The company had given guaran-
tees to the extent of 3,000,0001. or 4,000,0001. for
carrying on railway works in India. These guarantees
were all dependent on the dividends ; destroy them, and
the works were immediately suspended. After repeating
his observation on the objectionable feature in the
Government scheme of having directors nominated
by the Crown,— a system which had so signally failed at
the Cape of Good Hope, in Canada, and in other colo-
nies, the hon. proprietor urged upon the Court the
necessity of further information before legislating upon
the - subject. The question, however, after all, was,
how far would this measure affect India? His own
honest opinion was, that it would put the empire of India
in great danger. The hon. member concluded by re-
commended further inquiry by which, so far from in-
curring blame, they would obtain credit from all who
had the welfare of India really at heart. Although he
might not live to see many further changes, yet he
could foresee that if a government with an army of
350,000 men, consisting chiefly of natives, was not esta-
blished upon the best possible basis, the greatest and
most serious changes must occur. But they had it in
evidence that both the civil and military service in India
were of a superior order. If, then, they had succeeded
in establishing such a government by the present system,
what further need be done ! These were briefly the
views he entertained on the present question. He did
not wish to exclude others from expressing their opinions,
as he should take the opportunity of explaining his own
more fully elsewhere. He did not deny that there were
errors in the present government of India, but, while
admitting them, he maintained that the system itself
was sound. In conclusion, he would recommend a
spirit of conciliation—that they should give up a por-
tion of their own opinions in order to carry out some
great measure that would be beneficial to all. If the
Court would adopt that principle, they would stand in
a very different position from what they did at present.
Mr. SULLIVAN, confining himself to the bill intro-
duced by the Government, could not but express his re-
gret that the President of the Board of Control did not
enter into a communication with the Court of Directors
upon the subject of the bill before it was brought into'
Parliament. The reason alleged for introducing the
bill was, that there was an immense amount of effer-
vescence in India, which if not put down, injury must
ensue. And what was the proposed remedy ? Why, that
three Crown-selected directors were to take their position
behind the bar. That was the succedaneum—that was
the patent fire-annihilator. (Laughter.) The moment
they appeared all agitation was to subside—the people
of India would retire satisfied to their homes, blessing
the English Government for the great care it took of
their interests. If he had not been accustomed to hear
cartloads of nonsense about India he should have been
surprised to hear a man in the House of Commons assign
such a measure for the improvement of the government
of India. One reason given for this change was, that
fit men could not find their way into the direction, by
reason of the system of canvassing, and of the necessity
of improperly applying the patronage of the company.
But, supposing these allegations were true, was there
no other way of remedying the evil than that which
would destroy the whole governing power of India ?
Why the President of the Board of Control had in this
very bill proposed an effectual cure for it. By tho
13th clause it was enacted that henceforth there should
be no further canvassing for a directorship. Sir C.
Wood had, therefore, cut the ground from under his
feet. Again, on a certain day, the Court of Directors
were to reduce their numbers to 15. For this they
had in a great measure to thank themselves ; for, in-
stead of following the example of their predecessors,
and manfully exposing the vices of the system under
which they were acting, and frankly confessing the
state of subordination and subjection under which it
placed them, they eulogised the system, and said that
they wanted no change, but that they were at pre-
sent practically the governors of India. They at-
tempted to show that all was harmony between them
and the Board of Control ; it was concord without,
but discord within. In another important point they
departed from the practice of their predecessors—
namely, in the publicity of their proceedings. (Hear,
hear.) In 1833 the Court of Directors expressed
their conviction that the only check that could be
opposed to the overwhelming power of the Board of
Control was, that whenever they came into conflict
with the President of the Board of Control the pro-
ceedings should be published, in order that Parlia-
ment and the public might judge between them. They
actually petitioned Parliament on the subject, and the
prayer of the petition was denied, which was one
of the reasons assigned by Mr. Wigram and Mr. Marjori-
banks for resigning the chair, stating that unless the
principle of publicity was established, it would be impos-
sible to conduct the business of the court with credit to
themselves and with advantage to the public. What
had been the rule? Rigid secresy. On only one occa-
sion bad the Court of Directors allowed the proprietors
to know what had been passing between them and the
Board of Control, and that was on the revocation of the ap-
pointment of Sir C.Metcalf. That interference on the part
of the Board of Control was the cause of all the calamities
under which India had since suffered. If the appointment
of Sir C. Metcalfe to be Governor-General had not been
rescinded they would not have had the Affghan war, there
would have been no Scinde aggression, no Sattara ag-
gression, no Burmese war. So long as the court excluded