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

LONDON, MONDAY, .MNE 6, 1853.

There are several preliminary questions to be
decided before Parliament can ever take into its
consideration Sir CHARLES WOOD'S propositions
for the future government of India. Hon. Gen-
tlemen must ask themselves whether they are in
a position to legislate permanently on a question
of such vital importance, not merely to the wel-
fare and happiness of nearly 15 0, 000, 000 of
human beings, but to the interests of the United
Kingdom? Whether they are in possession of
adequate information supplied by unimpeachable
and disinterested witnesses, freed from bias or
prejudice, and whose motives and feelings are
beyond suspicion ? Have the inquiries hitherto
instituted been conducted fairly and impartially,
affording to all parties concerned reasonable op-
portunities for giving expression to their com-
plaints and to their desires, of substantiating
the former by evidence, and adducing argu-
ments to show the justice and expediency
of conceding the boons so earnestly and at
the same time so temperately demanded ? it
CHARLES WOOD conceives that we have ample
materials for permanent legislation—that there
is not only no benefit to be derived from further
delay, but that such a course would be highly
dangerous and impolitic, and very prejudicial both
to England and to Hindostan. The Right Hon.
Baronet exhibited greater energy on that point
than on any other which he brought forward
during his protracted oration. He said—" It
seems to me that whatever plan for the Govern-
ment of India may be decided on—whether the
single Government should be adopted, or the
' double Government' should be continued or
amended—it is our bounden duty to give to India,
at the earliest possible moment, the best Govern-
ment which the wisdom of Parliament may de-
vise." And further, in speaking of the Minis-
terial plan, he emphatically adds—" Amend it if
you will—alter it if you please—suggest improve-
ments if you can—but let us not refuse to India
the best Government• we can devise for the per-
manent welfare of our Indian Empire."
There is surely something very suspicious in
this extraordinary precipitation this urgent
pressure, by one not very remarkable for rapid
progress in the removal of ancient abuses, and
this feeling of doubt is materially enhanced by
the fact, that it is exhibited by one who stands
forward as the apologist, and more than the apo-
logist, of the Anglo-Indian Government—who ,
speaks in the strongest terms of approbation of
the efficiency and e:Kcellence of its management,
and of the peculiarly felicitous results that have
attended the admirable administration of the irre-
sponsible Boards of Cannon-row and Leadenhall-
Street. Such exceeding promptitude might be
intelligible on the pal of those who severely cen-
sured the past administration of our Eastern do-
minions',
the
exisi
complained n the strongest terms of
ng
stem, objecting to the continuance
for a single da
brooded y of the incubus that has so long
over the d( Si t
energies of that
might
and paralysed the
3,8 empire ; but it creates a
very imp
leasant imp).,e
,Solofn from one who retains
the obnoxious principl:
sible government, intraoddivid
es ed
and
infini-
tesimalirrespon-
alterations w loch he huaesb
brought even the
with fear and trembling, for daring
forward
sacrilegious hands up a n a system so to lay his
Hallowed, and
so beneficial, and in 4 very respect so unobjection-
able.
If Sir CHARLES W 'COD be really sincere in his
professions—if lie be? [5 eve, indeed, that "although
not nd is nt
the Government of I adia, was , a
best that could be d evised, yet that there ,the
is no
ground whereupon ) condemn it as being ineffi-
cacious or inefficient, ''he cannot suppose that the
postponement of final! legislation for one, two, or
even three years won] d be attended by any inju-
rious or even dange r ous consequences. If the

system be not " the best that could be devised,"
it is surely his duty to resist the reckless haste that
would attend an immediate settlement of the im-
portant and interesting question, and to render it,
if not perfect, at least as near perfection as prac-
ticable ; nay, more, it is essential that he should
satisfy the people of India that the matter in
which they are so deeply interested had received
the calm and deliberate examination which it so
eminently merited—that their feelings and preju-
dices should be conciliated, so that they might be
convinced of the impartiality and beneficence of
the Imperial Parliament—who had not adjudicated
conclusively until thoroughly informed as to their
wishes and desires. Aude alterarre partem is a
sound rule. A fair hearing to the myriads of our
Hindoo fellow-subjects is not merely an act of pro-
priety, but one of imperative necessity, if we
would retain their affectionate regards and
undeviating allegiance to British rule. We
must not, then, forget that the investigation
with which Sir CHARLES WOOD professes to
be so completely satisfied, which has pro-
vided such ample materials for legislation, has
been altogether one-sided ; that the witnesses
examined have been, with scarcely one exception,
the employees or protegees of the Company under
whose influence they themselves have achieved
position and fortune, and from which, if it should
retain its powers, many of them may hope to
obtain future favours. What would be thought
of a judicial inquiry in this country where the
witnesses for the defence only were heard ? It
would be difficult to obtain a conviction of any
culprit if the mouths of his accusers were her-
metically sealed, and the testimony of his own
friends and dependents was only received.
But this is precisely what we have done. None
but persons who hold, or who have held, offices
under the Company have been examined. Not a
single witness has bees permitted even to state
the nature of the grievances, much less to sub-
stantiate the justice and accuracy of the com-
plaints that have boen so loudly and so generally
preferred. The Natives have humbly petitioned
that an opportunity may be afforded of substan-
tiating their assertions as to the existing evils,
" before an impartial Commission of investigation
and inquiry assembled in India, composed of per-
sons both in and out of public employ, and of
Europeans and Natives conjointly, chosen partly
in Europe and partly in India, as the sole means
by which the real state of our Oriental territories,
and the condition of their population, can be
elicited ; and pray that, for the accomplishment
of that object, the present Charter of the East
India Company may be annually renewed, until
the investigation is completed." This is a
just and reasonable request that cannot, even
if Parliament were as completely satisfied with
Sir CHARLES WOOD'S scheme as the Right
Honourable Baronet himself, be safely rejected.
It is also of the greatest consequence that, what-
ever may be the new form of government, it should
be subjected to periodical revision, in order that 1,
" it should be open to alteration and improve-
ment from time to time, as the wellbeing of the
country may require, and that the working of its
internal administration may undergo at stated in-
tervals public inquiry and discussion in the Im-
perial Parliament." If the new proposition be
accepted—if the Indian " double" Government be
constituted for an indefinite period, such discus-
sion and inquiry will be avoided. The first duty,
then, of every independent member—of every one
who desires to promote the happiness, the content-
ment, and tranquillity of nearly one-sixth of the
human race, of preventing India from becoming a
Ministerial difficulty of no ordinary magnitude, a
festering thorn in the side of England—will be,
while endeavouring to amend to the utmost of his
power the measure brought forward by Sir
CHARLES Woon, and to remove its numerous
faults and imperfections, beyond all things, to limit
its duration to two, or, at the furthest three, years,
so that a further discussion may be insured so
soon as the results of the alterations about to be
made have been tested by experience—and we
have had a full opportunity of knowing the na-
ture and extent of the grievances for which the
inhabitants of that vast and distant empire seek,
or may, seek, redress.

An illustrious Statesman, during the next few
days, will be solemnly installed by the University
of Oxford as its Academic Chancellor. Around
him will be assembled together some of the most
distinguished men of our generation. Their names
have recently been enumerated—the names of
those eminent contemporaries who have been se-
lected by the Earl of DERBY to take a conspicuous
part in the ceremonies of his inauguration.
Chosen from all parties, they comprise among
their number the representatives of each of the
more notable professions. Prominent in the
group of these new Doctors of Civil Laws, will
be recognised the scholar and the diplomatist, the
orator and the poet, the historian and the
novelist, the warrior and the ecclesiastic,
the statesman and the philosopher. Pro-
bably no similar personage has ever before
been attended in this manner by a cluster of men
so remarkable both for their intellectual capacity
and for the brilliancy of their reputation. Cer-
tainly no Chancellor, either of Oxford or of Cam-
bridge, has associated with the incidents of his
Encomia any assemblage of persons comparably
distinguished by the variety and splendour of
their achievements. This, we assert, is in-
disputable. The new batch of D.C.L.'s might
challenge comparison with any one of its prede-
cessors. And yet it is this very cluster of cele-
brities against which so many derisive and scurri-
lous attacks have been lately directed by certain of
ourcontemporaries ! It is against this admirable se-,
lection that so many malignant shafts of ridicule have
been projected ! It is against this noble gather-
ing from various parties, from several classe§,
and from all pursuits, that the jealous scorn of
partisanship has hurled the most spiteful taunts
and the most malicious insinuations ! Nothing
has been considered too mean as a motive for the
nomination to these honorary degrees by diploma,
of individuals who might be reasonably presumed
to have earned for themselves the right to much
more elevated marks of distinction. Everything
that could possibly be raked together in the way
of depreciation has been sedulously accumulated
by the THERSITES of Politics, and the example of
that worthy has since then been servilely emu-
lated
by the SMELLFUNGUS of Literature. Bye-
gones in their regard have come no longer
to be byegones. Nothing, of course, could in
reason be whispered in derogation of a gallant
soldier like Sir HARRY SMITH, the hero of
Aliwal. Neither could anything be muttered
against a profound geologist like Sir RODERICK
MURCHISON. A contemptible joke was all that
could be associated with the name of Dr. FORBES
WINSLOW, arising out of the circumstance of his
skill in the treatment of lunatics. Nothing more
damning could be said of Professor AYTouN than
that he had been guilty of the high crime and
misdemeanour of writing for Blackwood's Maga-
zine. But to all those who had ever ventured
into the more stormy arena of public life, there
have been- dispassionately dedicated all the mire
of personality, all the brickbats of calumny, and
all the bludgeons of coarse and intemperate vitu-
peration. Sir E. But.WER limo N—surely one of
the literary glories of our age, if we have still
left amongst us any sense of the real worth of
genius and scholarship—has been spoken of as
though he had never penned anything else than
" a thin acid pamphlet" addressed to JOHN BuL;,
and advocating the now abandoned principles of 1
Protection. Mr. DISRAELI has been mentioned
in a manner that might imply he had never gained
the honours of a " second edition," or obtained
the ear of the House of Commons, or risen to
the dignity of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr.
WARREN again—unquestionably one of the most
shrewd and
caustic
has among living delineators of
character_ been
sneered at as though " The
Lily and the Bee"
constituted his one solitary,
unlucky, and irredeemable contribution to our
current Literature.
Now, all this, we maintain,
is simply
the question. .... unfair- . It is flagrantly begging
portrait, and instead
Pretending to sketch a
of. .
that, drawing an
odious and monstrous caricature. It is about
as reasonable ana as accurate
as it would be for a

biographer of Lord BYRON, in consideration of his
limp and his club-foot, to depict him—a hideous
deformity ! Fortunately, the malice of these dis-
graceful scurrilities will exercise no influence
whatever over the judgments of those assembled
to witness the pomp and pageant of Lord DERBY'S
inauguration. The youngest freshman of the
University will need no reminder as to the high
merits of the distinguished men flaunting in their
red gowns through the procession as the D.C.L.'s
of the newly inaugurated Chancellor. They
will not require to be informed that in Mr.
MACAULAY they recognise the brilliant essayist
and historian, whose style is at once the
most ornate and the most mellow among
the prose-writers in our language—that in Sir
ARCHIBALD ALISON, they behold the laborious an-
nalist of Europe as it has been during the tem-
pestuous throes of revolution—that in Mr. Dis-
RAELI they see not only the popular romancist and
the gifted debater, but that man of letters born of
a man of letters, who by the force of his unaided
abilities has risen to the leadership, in the House
of Commons, over that great party whose members
are the chiefs among the ranks of our country
gentlemen. They will bear -vividly in re-
membrance, moreover, we doubt not, that
while in the ex-Lord Chancellor, Baron ST.
LEONARDS, they have before them one of the pro-
foundest lawyers who ever took his seat upon the
woolsack, they have also before them, in Sir
E. BULWER LYTTON, the poet, the dramatist, the
historian, the novelist, the orator, the essayist,
to sum up all in a phrase, the Admirable CRICH-
TON of English Literature. Can they require,
moreover, to be reminded I—surely that were in
the highest degree improbable—that in the Earl
of MALMESBURY they have the Foreign Minister
who opened up the trade of South America to
British enterprise—that in Mr. WARREN they
have the ingenious satirist of " Ten Thousand a-
Year," and the writer of the pathetic and impas-
sioned " Diary of a late Physician "—that in the
Earl of EGLINTON they have an administrator
who is still regarded by Irelandas one of the ablest
and as one of the most prudent of her Lord-Lieute-
nants. Besides which, other men eminent by
their genius and by their achievements will be
recognised during the next few days by the youth
of England at Oxford, meaning, thereby, one of
the most important sections of the new
generation. Gratitude and patriotism should
alike lead them to that recognition of un-
doubted genius and of honourable achieve-
ments. Palmam qui meruit, &c., hackneyed
though the phrase may be, trite though the
thought, it is yet at this moment peculiarly de-
serving of remembrance—at this moment when
insolent personalities, and vulgar jeers, and scur-
rilous contumelies are the meeds most frequently
awarded to the winner of an illustrious reputation.

Surprising though it may appear, it is not yet
generally known, we believe, that there is at this
moment in active operation a railway, threading
the more populous districts of the metropolis—
crossing the Eastern Counties line and the Great
Northern—connecting the North Western Rail-
way with the railway to Blackwall—and supply-
ing the principal portion of our capital with the
advantages of cheap and rapid intercommunica-
tion. All this has been accomplished while we
have been talking about a central terminus, about
new bridges across the Thames, about opening
additional thoroughfares, about supplying London
with this, that, and the other improvement. So
that passengers can be conveyed every quarter of
an hour during the day time—for sixpence first
class, and fourpence second class, or by return
ticket for ninepence first class, and sixpence ]
second class—between the station at Fenchurch-
street
and the station at Euston-square ! The
new line commences near Primrose Hill, and ex-
tends to the vicinity of Limehouse. One
extremity is called the Stepney station, and the
other, hard by the Camden Depot, the Hampstead
Road Station : and between these the railroad
traverses the north and east of the metropolis by
what the Americans call a circumbendibus. Be-
sides the terminal station at Stepney and
the other at Hampstead, there are interme-
diate stations at the Camden Road, between
Kentish Town and Camden Town—at the Cale-
donian Road, between Holloway and Pentonville
—at Islington, immediately south of Highbury—
at Kingsland, south of Stoke Newington—at
Hackney, below Lower Clapton, and finally at
Bow. Arrangements, we observe, are already
entered into for the issue of Season Tickets, for
the convenience of those who will be likely to
avail themselves frequently of these facilities of
communication between the City and its suburbs.
It is scarcely possible, we conceive, to exaggerate
the value of the benefits thus secured to the con-
tiguous masses of the population.
Altogether, nowadays, there are seven great
termini requiring concentration in the heart of the
capital of England. There is, of course, a consi-
derable station at Nine Elms, and there is one at
the Bricklayers' Arms, and there are the impor-
tant stations already mentioned at Camden Town
and at Stepney. But, strictly speaking, it may
be said that there are altogether seven great ter-
mini in the metropolis requiring concentration.
I Firstly, there is the South-Western Railway
] Terminus at Waterloo-bridge. Secondly, there
is the South-Eastern Railway Terminus
at London-bridge. Thirdly, there is the
Blackwall Railway Terminus at Fenchurch-street.
Fourthly, there is the Eastern Counties Railway
Terminus at Shoreditch. Fifthly, there is the
Great Northern Railway Terminus at King's-cross.
] Sixthly, there is the North-Western Railway
Terminus at Euston-square. And, seventhly, there
is the Great Western Railway Terminus at Padding-
ton. Ultimately, all these must, whetherby tunnels,
or by viaducts, or by bridges, or by additional
railroads, become connected together. Already
four out of the seven may be said to be so
even now—namely, the Euston Station, the
King's Cross Station, the Shoreditch Station, and
the Fenchurchs-treet Station—and this by means
of the new enterprise here noted as in operation,
the East and West India Docks and Birmingham
Junction Railway and its system of communica-
tions. A little further energy and the webwork
of railroads for the capital will be brought
into a yet more admirable state of develop-
ment. A little more and the whole of
the complicated scheme may be conducted to
something like a satisfactory completion. A little
more and Mr. CHARLES PEARSON'S plan may be
happily realised—se that by the inauguration of
the Grand Central Terminus in Farringdon-street,
the health and verdure of the country may be
brought within reach of the toiling multitudes of
London and Westminster.

OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS.—The Queen has appointed
Dr. James Begbie to be physician in ordinary to her
Majesty in Scotland. Mr. J. G. Payne is appointed
resident surgeon to the Millbank Penitentiary, in the
room of Mr. James G. Rendle, appointed medical officer
of the New Female Convict Prison at Brixton.—
Observer.
DEATH OF THE EARL OF DUClE.—Henry George
Francis Moreton, Earl of Duck, expired on Thursday.
The deceased earl was born the Bth of May, 1802, and
married on the 29th of June, 1826, the Hon. Elizabeth
Dutton, eldest daughter of Lord Sherborne (born 19th
of February, 1807), by whom he had numerous issue—
the eldest of whom, Henry John, born 10th of August,
1829, and elected M.P. for Stroud in 1852, now suc-
ceeds to the ancestral honours. The late peer was an
advocate of free trade principles ; ho was also a, promi-
nent member of the Evangelical Alliance. Lord .More-
ton: having succeeded to the title and estates, a vacancy
is creoted for the representation of Stroud.
THE Fox CLUB.—The Fox Club dined on Saturday
evening at Brookes's. Present—Earl of Albemarle,
Duke of Bedford, Viscount Enfield, Sir M. J. Cholineley,
Bart., Colonel Boldero, Colonel Ferguson, M.P., E. A.
Sanford, Esq , Colonel Hon. R. Boyle, M.P., Col. Sir
H. Ferguson Davie, Bart. M.P.. H. Ferguson, Esq.,
A. K. Stephenson, Esq., Hon. H. Duncan, A. W.
Robarts, Esq., Earl of Scarborough, Rowland Alston,
Esq., Right Hon. Lord ,Marcus Hill, Lord Camoyc, Sir
R. Throckmor ton, Bart., Edward Ellice, Esq., M.P.,
Earl of Yarborough, Gen. lion. G. Anson, M.P., Right
Hon. Sir Robert Adair, Hon.. Edward Coke, Earl of
Bessborough, Lord Cremorne, earl of Zetland, Hon. R.
S. Carew, Lord Say and Sele, Capt. Townsend, R.N.,
M.P., Sir W. G. Craig, Bart.
DINNER IN CELEBRATION OF SIR JAMES GRAHAM'S
EIRTHDAY.—On Wednesday last Sir James Graham's
birthday was celebrated in Longtown by the tenantry of
the Netherby estate and others by a public dinner, at
which the health of the right hon. baronet and the mem-
bers of his family were drunk with cordial enthusiasm.
Carlisle Journal.