The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

e of
cit.,
110},o
hioll,u eo
of

at for
ge tea
claw

raft'
Cod,
et,i her;
P3I
to o
large

3 ; °383,
terujio,
)f 87" of
Pie° of

il
ien Ce a,
110
00

, etilo
iril
ttii:l3
bet

reti,,
Inwi"
gitli.

INIPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS--(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Earl of FEVERSHAM presented a petition from
the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Council of York, against
the Registration of Assurances Bill.
The Archbishop of YORK presented a petition against
the opening of the Crystal Palace on Sundays.
Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition against the
Burghs (Scotland) Bill.
The LORD CHANCELLOR laid on the table the
second report of the Common Law Commission.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the
merchants of London, praying for amendment of the
bankruptcy laws.
The Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND presented a
petition from Gateshead on Indian affairs.

TRANSPORTATION.
Earl GREY gave notice that on Friday next he would
move that an address be presented to her Majesty, pray-
ing that no alteration be made in the regulations for the
transportation of convicts before a full account of any
contemplated changes be laid before Parliament.

INDIA.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE, pursuant to notice, pre-
sented a petition from the corporation of cutlers at
Sheffield on the subject of the internal improvement and
public works in India. The petitioners were one of the
most ancient corporations in this country, and of all
countries in the world to which the cutlery of England
was exported India was the largest consumer. It was,
therefore, natural that the cutlers of Sheffield should
take a deep interest in any measure affecting India ;
hadhe believed that the prayer of the petition which he
to present was in accordance with public opinion in
this country. The petitioners first pointed out that it
wail the imperative duty of the Government of India
to promote the cultivation of the soil ; and they sug-
gested that there should be a more permanent fixing
of the land tax. There had been a controversy as
to the extent to which this tax pressed upon the
Pe?ple and obstructed their progress. The next
Point to which the petitioners directed attention was
thefinancial proceedings of the Government. One of
great difficulties of the Indian Government was,
that they had to provide some millions of money ; and,
ara °Ug other methods, they adopted the course of ad-
vancing money by hypothecation upon the goods of
India. When his noble friend (the Earl of Ellen-
b i'is(irough) was at the head of the government of India he
°k steps to put an end to that practice, and sent a
dispatch strongly recommending that it should be dis-
continued. An order was issued in 1850 which entirely
abolished the practice, and it was to be hoped that it
would not be revived under any circumstances. It was
originally adopted when the company was still a trading
rliOration. Since the last act passed, the trade of India
du increased 240 per cent., and it was now to be hoped
thatd" the company could find means, through the ordi-
c„ arY channels, of remitting their money without resort-
;,.,-g° so objectionable a practice as placing themselves
41
position of traders. The next point to which the
Petitioners alluded was the most important—it was that
°f internal improvement. A good deal had been said on
both sides of the question. The Government and the East
,ndia Company said that a great deal had been done
7,14 more was in the course of achievement ; whilst on
+.,"'Le other hand severe criticism said it was a scandal both
,‘" the Indian government and the country that so little
'4U• been effected. (Hear.) Neither of these state-
Inslits) he believed, conveyed the correct view of the
case.
Within the last ten years there bad, no doubt,
teen a greater desire to promote internal improvements,
:lAA still all had not been done that ought to have been
°lie. The lower province of Bengal consisted. of a
great alluvial tract through which two enormous
streams of the continent found their way, and it
maintained about 40,000,000 of souls. There were
v;°°o miles of embankment on the rivers, but it
;:843 in a most dilapidated state. Some years ago
t_eonarnission was issued for the purpose of examining
to the embankments, and informing the Government
ealOw far it was possible to repair and renew them.
ue commission was composed of a fourth-rate English
~r,lgineer, a captain in the Indian service, and a
found
gentleman, and their sole report was that they
thought
the works in an efficient state, and they
,Tegight the best thing to be done was to leave them "in
-b:is
state of nature." (A. laugh.) There were some canals,
they were so choked as to be almost useless ; and
then,
as to the roads, there was the grand trunk road,
made about 20 years ago, from Calcutta up the Valley
°f the Ganges, 1,450 miles into the interior of the eoun-
stl7. The expenditure, which had been authorised by
re Government, upon this road, amounted to about
L15,4°13,000/. It was the great military line of communi-
b—," but there were several wide and deep streams to
withinBB and there were scarcely any bridges. Two bridges,
35 miles of Calcutta, had been washed away some
years ago, and not a single effort had been made to re-
aee them_ In the evidence before the committee of
°;°,Be of Commons in 1841, upon the roads in
experi-
ence stated, by a gentleman of great experi-
Sutlej "ledge, that on one occasion during the
from C I
treat trunk
' it was thought desirable to send 100 officers
a cutta to the scene of operations, to which the
had to travelr-:
Was a direct line. The officers
in Palanquins, and it was necessary
u have relays of 7,200 bearers, who travelled at the rate
of lafour miles an hour ; but notwithstanding all the
olit advantages of the trunk road, only 30 of the
pi.:,ers arrived at their destination in time. In the
cause of Delhi there were two great irrigating canals,
,eaSal,,l
_the East Jumna and the West Jumna. These
large gad been taken in hand by the Government, and
e° 41% had ,utiexi,,been expended on them. The canals in
114:10 -11 With the Ganges extended, in length over
Of th• urldre ,„ d miles. There was no doubt but that woreks
.
ars.„ kind were of the greatest value. It haief
tqed •
ascii and not without force, that the Governmentthe
had Could not engage in great works, while
from the
buT ,t 0 bear the expenses incident to heavy wars y;
sate he
ion he hadlndian
to the matter, that the
(Lord Wharncliffe) was convinced,
given
long
had mistaken their interdestinin noittehoafvinagll
u-big since steadily, perseveringly,
sumsan forsp
works of
stacles, devoted the necessary
Publicutility.
Company The. time had been, indeed, when the
that
could with difficulty raise the necessary sums ;
%oat was now no longer the case. That these things
tuuld be done, and that the people of India were not
Wanting in enterprise the following fact would show.
'`lll English engineer had succeeded in building a sus-
1511sion bridge over one of the rivers, from resources en-
tirely unconnected with Government. He had got the
the
and the necessary people together for executing
'4e work, and, by dint of perseverance, had carried the
Matter to a successful issue.
t,,Crhe Duke of NORFOLK here presented to their lord-
ships her Majesty's reply, assenting to the joint address
"I. both houses, requesting her to appoint a royal com-
Illission to inquire into the existence of corrupt practices
lit the borough of Hull and the city of Canterbury.]
t The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH expressed the ex-
:eine satisfaction with which those who took an inte-
rest in the affairs of India must view the extension of
at interest generally throughout the country.; and he
tlinsted that the assistance they would receive from
adhesion of parties so influential as those from
"ni the noble lord had presented a petition,
cas Would lead to beneficial results. (Hear.) He could
iIY understand the pleasure with which the petition-
ore
the abolition of the pernicious system of
wanting money in India on the hypothecation of goods
ataa System which had interfered greatly with commerce
had crippled the energies of the honest trader. He
nittself anticipated so certainly the arguments and
skt- B°ll, itself
of the Government on this point, that he had
of trily issued a notice of the approaching abrogation
this ° Practice ; but that step was not well received in
kemeontry, and indeed he believed there was no one
Thor lire of the Government of India that gave more
a„_°Ugh dissatisfaction to the board of directors ; their
oilitr,!hensions, however, had proved to be entirely with-
ioundation ; and trade was now free to that extent.
st:t_uoble friend had adverted very strongly to the
under
the roads--a subject which had been brought
first d his (Lord Ellenborough's) notice on the very
aboota3; that he spent in India. He had disembarked
ninety miles from Calcutta, and as there was no
go on steamer to take him forward, he intimated that he would
by that once by land. This proposal was laughed at
were to to whom he mentioned it. They said there
toeanno roads and if there had been, there were no
all tLB of conveyance, so that if he went he must walk
Wasit.tway (A laugh.)
Six or eight weeks afterwardsit took
eeessary for him to proceed up the country, and
him nine da to re are his dauk, though he
1.8111-,ILY three palanquins, • s andr though he travelled with
tliffeiNgage than macinuyina cadet. He had found a great
In :nee between the-road in different parts of India.
oth Inc Places they were as good as in England, but in
eveZanthey were nearly impassable. By means, how-
geue f the assistance of MrGrey the active postmaster-
al
it they were
mailbecome greatly ire' proved, and in a little time
1_ carts possible to send officers as rapidly as the
Wheelb carriages were formerly unknown,
VIIII-ue",..°,(the. noble earl) had had his palanquin placed on
by instead of being carried, was pushed along,
reil,agit°ll means he had increased his speed from four
talked ° Seven miles an hour. When the noble lord
b,g to of further carrying out railways in India, lie must
tan attention his attention to the fact, that diplomatic ar-
,‘,B would first be necessary; because there were
Pede th'e
tree. Several native states that would greatly im-
It had been his (Lord Ellenborough's)
tsighnave established an arrangement with all
ad tiv p°rinees of the nature of a Zollverein ; and he
Foote
tniaaislul succeeded as to reduce the duties on the principal
ea
peroderate sum. Not only were the roads in many
yea upon
_.fectly crenellated, but there were no bridges,
tiiliienicaiet.neLnost important strategetieal lines of coin-
o Jurona
and the
or instance, there was a stream between
C 111(1 sto Sutlej, which, when the waters were
onsiderin_ „ an army for three days. (Hear, hear.)
Suite astelt,t;_ne cheapness of labour in India, it was
rni7e,.l suer" g that the Government should have
apa,tohy with regard to public works. We
1-1144noght to something for our civil reputation.
While we had one everything 6 for ourselves only
AA djn.astiee which had preceded our own had not
sas all ,neir own wlut
/u.,„Be men desired to s, but the wants of posterity.
something behind them to
coOutr'e their
something
he desired that his
rii'eerne eitlitYir:iglihaeasesitr,°ceirnaavted in the future of India with
connected
with the permanent good of the
!hal' teboefit.hat nation. At the present moment_ he feared
'hat `llPartial figmentju of all' historians would be
3glli6eell.We were possessors of one of the most
111(hba,r einPires in the world and the successors of
b although we might have been
anion an°. Aurun
loeua t,st the nobl gze
e—
_ ornbavinest of soldiers, they would condemn our
a(1.1 istrators g been amongla the very meanest of
the dlißef"?._ As-4NVlCLhLeEersh)ad heard with great pleasure
muoa of that night, and he trusted that the re-

marks which had been made would not be lost upon the
noble lords who formed the select committee on our In-
dian territories. The noble lord had spoken of bridges ;
but one of the most needed would be three miles long,
and would require a million of money to complete it.
Now, when they considered how long a bridge, not very
far from their lordships' house, had been out of repair,
they would hardly wonder at the delay. (Hear. hear,
and a laugh.) As for the roads, a friend of his who had
just come back from a tour of pleasure in India had in-
formed him that he had travelled 900 miles from Cal-
cutta in a wheeled carriage. (Hear, hear.) Her Ma-
jesty's Government were desirous of adopting the best
mode of administration possible. The fact that we were
obliged to apply an absolute government to India ren-
dered the responsiLility upon us all the greater to adopt
every me ins in our power of increasing the material hap-
pi less of the country • and he hoped that as the natives
had shown a desire for improvement, the Government
would do everything in their power to encourage and
avail themselves of that feeling.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH hoped the bridge of
which the noble earl had spoken would never be at-
tempted ; because if they built it upon piers, it would
have to be five miles long instead of three. Besides, as
they had to dig thirty feet through sand before they
came to solid foundation, and as the water was 30 feet
deep, the piers would have to be about 100 feet high, so
that it was out of the question that a million would be
enough for the work. It was futile to suppose that
railways could be carried across to Allahabad ; for
though the engineers had subdued the land the waters
would subdue the engineers. Besides, the rivers were
of so shifting a character. Why he had seen bridges in
India three-quarters of a mile from the streams they were
intended to span. (Laughter_) He was once attempt-
ing to cross by a bridge and found that it suddenly ended
in the middle of the water. (Laughter.) The rivers
were so filled with a peculiarly fine sand that a wattle
fence would be sufficient to divert them from their
course. The Mahomedans had built bridges, and fine
ones they were too ; but then they were a long waroff
the rivers. (A laugh.)
The Earl of ALBEMARLE admitted that he was one
of the Indian pessimists ; but he was glad to see the sub-
ject of roads and bridges at last taken up. Seneca had
said that a Roman never conquered but he inhabited, and
he never inhabited without making roads to the very
limits of his province. He (the noble earl) doubted the
practicability of setting aside 10 per cent. for improve-
ments in India. Twenty millions was the revenue of the
country. Ten per cent. upon that would be two millions.
and this out of a revenue the normal state of which was
a deficit, and which never deviated into a surplus. The
bad condition of the public works in India was an item
of the grievances which the natives of India laid to the
charge of their rulers. He held in his hand statistical
papers relating to India, printed for the Court of Direc-
tors, which showed the amount of the expenditure on
public works in India. The amount in 1849-50 was
380,000/. There was a little attempt at mystification
here. The return was for 15 years, but the estimate
for 1851 was exactly double the expenditure for 1849.
The noble baron who presented the petition had called
their attention to the trunk road from Calcutta to Delhi,
and from thence to Peshawur. Of this road only
965 miles of the 1,423 had been completed, and as far as
the statement showed the remainder had not been begun.
Then the road from Bombay to Agra was begun in 1840.
Its length was 734 miles, but whether it was finished or
not was not stated. Here then was the Calcutta and
Bombay mail road, which was 1,170 miles, but of this
168 had been previously constructed. In 1845 the
court directed that 1,002 miles of road should be con-
structed for the transmission of the mails. A summary
was given of all these roads. They were to be 3,059
miles in length, and to cost 2,964,000/. for construction,
and 90,000/. a-year for repairs. All this was to be done,
but, after all, what did it amount to ? One-seventh part
of the turnpike roads in England and Wales for a coun-
try seven times as big. He should on a future day move
for a return of the number of miles of road fit for the
transport of goods by coach, and used for that purpose,
in the presidency of Madras, and a similar return for
Bombay.
The subject then dropped,
LUNACY.

The Lunatics Care and Treatment Bill, the Lunatic
Asylums Bill, and the Lunacy Regulation Bill, were
severally passed through committee.

BOROUGH OF CAMBRIDGE.

The Earl of ABERDEEN moved that their lordships
concur in an address presented by the House of Com-
mons for a commission to inquire into corrupt practices
at elections for the borough of Cambridge. He said he
need not go into the history of the case presented before
the committee of the Commons, but be should content
himself with moving that their lordships concur in the
address.

After a few words from Lord ST. LEONARD'S and
Lord CAMPBELL,

The motion was agreed to.
SOUTH SEA ANNUITIES COMMUTATION
BILL.

On the motion for going into committee on this bill,
Earl GRANVILLE was understood to say that he
believed several noble lords wished to speak on this bill,
and he suggested that they should do so on the third
reading.
After a few words from Lord MONTEAGLE,
Lord ST. LEONARDS (who, as usual, spoke in so
low a tone of voice as to be all but inaudible in the gal-
lery), was understood to object to the bill as excluding
suitors in Chancery, whose funds were in South Sea An-
nuities or Consols, from the advantages which other
classes of holders would have in taking either of three
alternatives offered, viz., to take an interest of 31 with a
reduction of capital; an interest of 21 per cent., with an
addition to the capital; or Exchequer Bonds. He would
watch the progress of the bill with great jealousy ; and,
he would call upon their lordships to insist on suitors in
Chancery being placed in exactly the same position as
every other holder. He did not ask more for them, and
he would ask no less.
The LORD CHANCELLOR referred to detailed ob-
jections which appeared to have been made by the noble
and learned lord, and undertook, in regard to the
operation of the bill so far as it affected holders being
suitors in Chancery in Consols, that he would do his ut-
most, by framing special and general order, to meet all
the exigencies of the case, and to procure equal justice
to suitors. With regard to the operations of the bill, so
far as it touched South Sea Annuities holders he con-
ceived that Chancery suitors would he placed in no un-
fair position whatever. This was unlike all other com-
mutation bills in this respect, that it provided that the
holders (suitors in Chancery) could decline any of the
alternatives offered and select to remain in statu quo,
with the same stock, on the same conditions. (So we
understood the noble and learned lord.)
Lerd ST. LEONARDS was satisfied with the expla-
nanions which the noble and learned lord had given as
to the first point. But on the second point, the noble
and learned lord seemed to be under a misappre-
hension ; for he forgot that justice required that
suitors in Chancery should not be subject to
an exceptional exclusion applied to no other holders
of stock, why add to the misfortune of a suit in equity
such an injustice at this ? Their lordships might be sure
such a measure would cause immense dissatisfaction and
heartburning ; and he would say that he had passed days
and nights in attempting to facilitate the course of jus-
tice in the Court of Chancery, and that he could not but
feel that all that time and trouble would be utterly
thrown away, if an attempt was made to deal unjustly
with the funds of the suitors.
Earl GRANVILLE was obliged to the noble and
learned lord for his suggestions. This part of the mea-
sure was, no doubt, experimental, to see how the wind
blew on the Stock Exchange; and some slight alterations
might be rendered necessary.
The bill was then passed through committee, and
The house adjourned at half-past eight.

HOUSE OF COMMONS--(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair shortly before four o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Lords' amendments to the Nottingham Gas Bill
were considered and agreed to.
The following bills were read a third time and passed :
—Norwich Waterworks Bill, Reading Market Bill,
Weston-super-Mare Waterworks Bill.
The following bills were considered, and ordered to be
read a third time :—Belfast and Ballymena Railway
Bill ; Eastern Counties Railway (Woodford and Lough-
ton) Bill ; Haslingden and Rawtenstall Waterworks
Bill ; Leeds Gas (No. 2) Bill ; Manchester, Sheffield,
and Lincolnshire Railway (Alteration of Capital) Bill ;
Price's Patent Candle Company (No. 2) Bill ; Wigan
Waterworks and Police Bill.

The following bills were read a second time and
ordered to be committed :—Barnsley Waterworks (No.
2) Bill, Sidney Sussex Estate Bill, Witham Drainage
Second District Bill, Baroda and Central India-Railway
Bill.