The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-10 00:00:00

of 5 per cent. only, and when 60 per cent. was kept on
native cottons that was not done from kindly feelings, or
from a feeling of liberal reciprocity. The deep interest,
therefore, of the constituents of the hon. gentleman oppo-
site was not to benefit the natives of India, but still further
to throw them out of employment. (Hear.) It had been
stated by Dr. Bowring that the effect of th owing the
trade open, and not allowing India to send her come-made
sugar, would be this—that the plains of the Deccan would
soon be bleached with the bones of the cultivators. What
he had principally to say was this, before the ,ystem was
destroyed by which India had derived enormous advan-
tages, and by which England and his constit ants had de-
rived enormous advantages, ho wished hon. gentlemen
would inform the house what it was proposed to substi-
tute. He should be glad to see the plait if the hon. gentle-
man before the house, and if the plan was better than the
existing sy'stem, he would adopt it. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME did not agree with either hon. gentlemen,
but he agreed that before destroying the present system
the house ought to know what was to be substituted. The
question was whether the Government established by the
act of 1836, which invested in the East India Company
the management of India, had been productive of all the
good intended, and had produced results such as India had
a right to expect? He believed that much which had been
stated as to mis-government was true. Much had, no doubt,
been left undone by the Court of Directors, but much more
had been done by them for the benefit of India than many
hon. members seemed disposed to allow. The present at-
tempt to legislate in almost total ignorance of what had
taken place in India for the last twenty years was alto-
gether premature. On the present occasion he should be
disposed to follow the course adopted in 1831, 1832, and
1833, and to inquire into every department of the Indian
Government. Instead of doing so the Government had
brought forward this measure suddenly, as if some great
emergency had rendered it necessary. (Hear, hear.) He
could not believe that the Government had any idea of le-
gislating permanently for India without sufficient inquiry.
On every former occasion lengthened negociations had
taken place between the Government and the India House,
and had been laid on the table. He should prefer to the
present measure a temporary bill to continue the present
charter till 1854 or 1855, in order that the subject might
be fully inquired into. He had never witnessed such a
precipitancy, not even with regard to the pettiest parish
bill, as had been shown to introduce and pass the pre-
sent measure. A great deal had been said by those who
were opposed to the Court of Directors as to the great
misery of the people of India. His desire was to inquire
into the cause of it—to find out who was at fault, and to
attend to every complaint that might come from India
against the company. In his opinion the committee up-
stairs had not been selected from amongst those best qua-
lified or most inclined to inquire into the whole ques-
tion. He had proposed to the committee that all petitions
from India should be received, and the parties invited to
prove their allegations. Yet, out of the seventeen members I
composing 'that committee, only one had supported the
motion. (Hear.) He had presented petitions from Madras
and Bombay, praying for inquiry, and was delighted to
hear the hon. member for Rochester admit that the natives
ought to be heard, and that no injury would arise from
postponing legislation. He regretted, on that ground, the
course which the Government proposed to take, but he still
hoped that they would not allow themselves to be led blind-
folded into this hasty, rash, and inconsistent legislation.
The right hon. gentleman the President of the Board of
Control had in his speech praised the Court of Directors,
and had painted every part of the present system couleur
de rose, yet, to his no small astonishment, had concluded
by proposing to destroy the very system which he had so
praised. (Hear, hear.) Some hon. members thought that
India might be ruled like Canada, or the Cape, or any
other of our colonies ; but how did it happen that every
one of our colonies had been in a state of rebellion, while
India alone had remained tranquil and contented? (Hear,
hear.) One of the principal reasons why he wished for in-
quiry related to the financial difficulties and the increase
of the debt. If the Court of Directors, in justice to the
proprietors, ought to have protested against the wasteful
expenditure of her Majesty's Government, he had no
hesitation in saying that if the principles upon which we
had attempted to govern Canada and the Cape were applied
to India, our empire there would not be worth ten years'
purchase. (Hear, hear.) It was impossible to over-estimate
the value of India to this country. (Hear.) He wished
for inquiry, to show that the excess of expenditure had
been caused by the Board of Control interfering with the
Court of Directors, who were by law the guardians of the
proprietors. At present the Government was pledged not
only to the redemption of the 12,000,000/. stock, but if he
had read the act rightly, they were also pledged to pay
the dividends till 1874. Parliament had decided that the
East India Company were to be retained, and though the
number of directors might be reduced and their power
lessened, yet they could not be dispensed with. They were
now going to degrade the Court of Directors, and instead
of 24 independent members, to reduce the number to 18,
with six members to be nominated by the Crown, taking
away from them at the same time the patronage they had
hitherto enjoyed, and adding some 2001. to their salaries.
He hoped there was not a director who would not spurn
such an offer. (Hear.) It was an insult, not only to them,
but to the people ofllndia, to suppose that they wished to pay
their servants 5,0001. a year, and their masters only 5001.
(Hear.) The Court of Directors in individual cases might
have been guilty of partiality and favour, but that was not
the general rule. The tenour of those dispatches proved that
their object was the benefit of India. Every question con-
nected with the army—with the revenue—with the adminis-
tration of justice—with the navy—was submitted to one or
other of their committees, and their army of 300,000 had
been kept in its high state of discipline not so much by the
agents in India, as by the care and circumspection of the
committee at home. (Hear.). They were about to destroy
that system. He would not have destroyed the present con-
stitution of the Court of Directors, but he would have made
it a qualification for the office that each director should be
an independent man, and able to devote his whole time
to the duties of the office. He would also have extended
the number of electors by giving a vote to every holder of
5001. of stock instead of 1,0001. as at present. Above
all things time was required at present in order that an
inquiry might be made as to the best means of im-
proving the country and elevating the condition of the
people of India. But the Board of Control had stepped in
to check such inquiry, and India had been made a political
foot-ball. He should be able to show that but for the war
India would have had a surplus revenue every year since
1833. The whole difficulties had arisen from the Court of
Directors not having been allowed to exercise that control
which the law intended they should possess, and from their
having been kept in ignorance of the most important facts
until the expenditure had been incurred. There had
been an expense of no less than 5,000,0001. sterling in-
curred by this country in connection with that war in
Scinde, and he was of opinion that the extension of our
territory which had been consequent upon the war, so far
from tending to the maintenance of tranquillity in India,
would be the occasion of fresh disturbances and renewed
expenditure. Upon the whole there had been an out-
lay of not less than 26,000,0001. incurred by England for
the purpose of prosecuting hostilities in the east, and
that vast sum had, for the most part, been squandered
without the authority or even the knowledge of the
Court of Directors. At the present moment another war
was being waged in India, in connection with which he
had no doubt large sums of money would be sacrificed, and
it was against a system of useless expenditure such as that
that he called upon the house most emphatically to protest.
He should now beg leave to call the attention of the house
to a resolution passed by the secret committee of the 7th of
June, 1833. That resolution stated that the committee ad-
hered to the opinion which they had repeatedly expressed,viz.
that some share of publicity, to be exercised as a rule, not as
a privilege, would be necessary, in order to preserve to the
company a due control, and enable them to perform efficiently
their part with respect to the government of India. The
capabilities of that country were very considerable, and
what he asked for its inhabitants, as well as for the people
of this country was, that the power should not exist to
squander its resources, and to render all attempts at effect-
ing improvement absolutely insufficient for any useful pur-
pose. Ild was the advocate of giving a salary of 5,0001.
a year to the Minister at the head of the Board of Con-

trol, and of making him in the eyes of England and of
the world responsible for the government of our Eastern
possessions, while he should wish to see the Court of
Directors acting in the capacity of a council to that Mi-
nister, and exercising a certain control over his proceed•
ings. He was anxious, too, for the existence of publicity
with respect to the transactions of this country in dealing
with the affairs of India, because he believad that by
making these transactions public many evils might be cor-
rected. A witness who had been examined before the com-

mittee that morning had stated that his principal com-
plaint against the government of India was, that trials
often took place in that country, and parties were removed
from the offices which they held, and yet nobody could
ascertain the cause of those proceedings. He, therefore, was
the advocate of publicity, where abuses were known to
prevail, and he felt confident that with a free press, which
would be ready to bring its influence to bear upon those
abuses, they could not be of long continuance. He was of
opinion that the measure of the Government ought to be
opposed in every stage, as a proceeding both unstatesman-
like and precipitate ; and that a full opportunity of being
heard should be afforded both to the natives of India and
to the people of this country, before we proceeded to legis-
late upon so important a subject as the future government
of our possessions in the east. (Hear.)
Mr. BLACKETT wished to observe that his hon. friend
the member for Poole (Mr. D. Seymour) having been
obliged to leave the house from indisposition, had requested
him (Mr. Blackett) to state that the words which he (Mr
D. Seymour) had used in reference to certain newspapers
being in the pay of the Government had escaped him in the
heat of debate, and that he wished to recal them.

Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
CUSTOMS ACTS.

The house went into committee upon tho Customs Acts.
The proposed reduction of the duty upon oranges and
lemons having been submitted to the consideration of the
committee,

Sir W. JOLLIFFE begged to explain the reasons why he
bad upon a former occasion asked for the postponement of
the debate with reference to the above-mentioned articles.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer might have been of
opinion that by postponing the debate upon the subject, he
would be causing some inconvenience to the progress of
pliblic business, but he (Sir W. Jolliffe) could not hold
himself responsible for being guilty of any dereliction of
duty in entering upon the course which he had taken.
In his opinion they ought to reduce the duty on oranges
and lemons to 6d. instead of Bd., as proposed by the right
hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It
should be remembered that these were articles which were
largely consumed by all classes in this country, while they
did not enter into competition with any of our native pro-
ductions.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he had not understood his right
hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to have ac-
cused the honourable baronet (Sir W. Jolliffe) of having
offered any unbecoming opposition to the progress of the
committee on the Custams duties on a former evening.
Mr. WILSON said that the duty which the Government
then proposed to levy on lemons and oranges had been de-
cided upon after a good deal of communication with parties
engaged in the trade. All those parties thought that Bd.
would be a fair sum to charge on the import of those arti-
cles ; and he (Mr. Wilson) believed that that duty would
amount as nearly as possible to one-half only of the sum
formerly levied.
Mr. HUME said he thought that they ought altogether
to repeal the duty on oranges and lemons. Those articles
did not come into competition with any home production,
and the abolition of the import duty upon them would be
beneficial to people of every class. (Hear, hear.)
- - - - •

Sir W. JOLLIFFE said that, _ as he perceived the righl

, .
hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer then in
his place, he wished to inform that right hon. gentleman
Jolliffe)tthhaetphoost(poSinrelmVe.ntona f or
couldm eformer
e evening
nbge
of fairly itrhl ye
resolutionchargecl
a reduction of the duty on lemons and oranges.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that lie
had not meant to advance any charge against the hon. baro-
' net upon that point. The hon. member for Montrose
wished that lemons and oranges should be admitted into
this country free of duty. But the reasons which the hon.
gentleman hact...put forvfarcl in faYoux of that anggeation