The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-24 00:00:00

TAUNTON ELECTION.

Mr. HUTT brought up the report of the Taunton
election dommittee, already published in The Sun, declar-
ing that Sir J. W. Ramsden, Bart., was duly elected
for the borough.
: LIVERPOOL ELECTION.
On the motion of Lord B. STUART, the evidence
taken before the Liverpool Election Committee was
ordered to be printed.

ST. PAUL'S.
Mr: OLIVEIRA wished to ask the noble lord the
Secretary: for the Hem Departthent whether the recent
opening of the- passage on the north side of St. Paul's
Cathedralidid not establish -,-tfiq.:necessity of adopting it
permanently when Oinnop-street is completed, as a
means of diminishing the;pressure of traffic from Lud-
gate-hill eastward ? '
Sir C. WOOD said his nobll friend was not present,
but he.apprehended the answer to the question did not
rest with him, but with the City authorities.

LAW OF. INDIA.
Mr. BLACKETT wished to ask the President of the
Board of Control, whether he will have any objection to
lay before the house copies of the case submitted to the
Attorney-General and Solicitor-General with reference
to the right of the Court of Directors to prohibit the
Governor-Genbral of India in council from proceeding to
the consideration of certain legislative measures, and
alluded to in Question 2,083 of the Minutes of Evidence
taken before the select committee of the House of Lords
on Indian Territories, and of the opinion given by the
said Attorney-General and Solicitor-General.
Sir C. WOOD said it was not usual to lay cases and
opinions of the law officers of the Crown on the table of
the house, and he must decline to accede to the request.

NIZAM'S DOMINIONS.
Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE wished to ask the Presi-
dent of the Board of Control whether it was the intention
of her Majesty's Government to sanction the confiscation
of the Nizam's dominions, which the Governor-General
of India had declared his intention to enforce.
Sir C. WOOD said he had not heard from India on
the subject, and therefore the question was premature.
INSPECTION OF NUNNERIES.

In reply to a question from Mr. NEWDEGATE,
Mr. PHINN said he had no prospect of being able
to bring on his motion on this subject under -a month.

GOVERNMENT 0 F INDIA BILL.

On the motion for the second reading of this bill,

Lord STANLEY—who, we regret to say, was very in-
distinctly heard in the gallery—rose to propose the follow-
ing amendment :—" That, in the opinion of this house,
further information is necessary to enable Parliament to
legislate with advantage for the permanent government of
India ; and that, at this late period of the session, it is in-
expedient to proceed with a measure which, while it dis-
turbs existing arrangements, cannot be considered as a final
settlement."—His lordship then spoke to the following
effect :—Mr. Speaker, in rising to move the amentdinent of
which I have given notice I can in the first place assure the
house that it is no mere matter of form or-custoin, but
that it is really because I feel I require it, ,And, because I
hope I shall not very greatly intrude upon it, that I ven-
ture to ask for its kind indulgence—an indulgence which,
perhaps, it will be allowed I have not ,very commonly soli-.
cited. (Hear, hear.) And, sir, in the very outset of inl
observations, I am bound to admit that in the statement
in which the right hon. gentleman the President of the
Board of Control introduced the bill which we are now
discussing to the notice of the house, he did not lay him-
self open to the charge of ambiguity—either on the ground
of not having fully explained the provisions of the measure
itself, or as to the details which he produced on the same
occasion. Indeed, the right hon. gentleman has not failed
to explain his views on every question of Indian policy
with quite sufficient clearness and distinctness. (Hear,
hear.) The right hon. gentleman went through, in review,
with great ability and ingenuity, the whole systein of our
Indian administration, in all its departments. (Hear,
hear.) And, although no one can feel more deeply than I
do the momentous interest and importance of the subject,
yet perhaps, I shall be able to relieve hon. gentlemen of
any apprehension which they may entertain, if I beg at
the outset, to assure them that 'it is not my intention, as
it is not my duty, to follow the right hon. gentleman
through the whole, or even through any considerable part
of the subject which now awaits our decision. Sir, the
amendment of which I have given notice does not deal
indeed it does not profess to deal—with the question,
which sooner or later we shall have to determine—with the
question, how is the future government to be parried on.
(Hear, hear.) Ido not, sir, ask the house to pass a ver-
dict of censure or acquittal urtifiktite Udininistration of our
Indian territories—l do not mean to ask the house, look-
ing either to the present or to the future, to commit itself
either to an approbation or condemnation of that which
may be commonly, but vaguely, described as the system of
double government. (Hear, hear.) On the contrary, the
whole scope and tendency of the amendment which I now
propose is to prove that it is not at this moment possible,
at all events that it is not expedient or advisable, to come
to a decision upon either one or other of these sub-
jects. But while, sir, I accord all that, I would ask
the house is it wise, is it justifiable, that now, to-
wards the close of a protracted session, that now, when
according to the admission of even the right hon. gen-
tleman himself, the verdict of public opinion in India
itself cannot be received in time—that now, before
*even the opinion of the people of England in reference
to the constitution of the Government can in any way
be said to be fully matured ; but above all, when the
committees appointed by this and the other house of Par-
liament, not merely for the purpose of gathering informa-
tion, collecting evidence, and recording that evidence, but
for the purpose of giving the public generally the benefit of
the conclusions to which they had been guided—that now,
before these committees have not yet apparently approached
near the term of their inquiries—is it, I would ask, sir, ex-
pedient, is it advisable, is it hardly possible to legislate for
the permanent government of India? (Hear.) Now, hon.
gentlemen will recollect that the present Parliament met in
the first days of November, that they sat for more than six
weeks, when they adjourned to meet again in February.
We are now, then, towards the close of the month of June,
entering upon the discussion of one of the largest and most
important questions which, during the last twenty years, I
might say during the last half century, has been submitted
to this house. But in adopting that line of argument, I
am well aware, sir, that I am laying myself open to one
objection. It will be said, of course, that this is a measure
of such paramount importance— that there exists so keen
an interest in its regard in the minds of the public—that
no sacrifice of mere personal or party consideration ought
to prevent Parliament from cheerfully acceding to the pro-
longation of the session a little beyond the ordinary pe-
riod. (Hear.) Now I shall say to that, in the first place,
that considering we have been here since early in the
month of November—considering that up to the 10th or
11th of August, we shall have sat for a period of nine
months, with only two short interruptions—l think it is
not a reasonable expectation—l think it is not probable,
that this house will consent to continue its sittings far into
the approaching autumn. (Hear.) For myself, sir, I own I
can conceive no course more prejudicial to the conduct of
the administration of public affairs, more inconvenient to
ourselves personally, or more injurious to the character of
the legislation of this house, than that we should sit uni-
formly throughout the year, without the admission of any
interval during which to reflect upon what we have done,
or to consider and mature our measures for the future.
(Cheers.) I therefore say, sir, that it is neither right nor
desirable that the present session should be protracted
beyond the middle or the close of August ; that will allow
for the discussion of this great question six weeks, or at
the very outside two months, and that I think would not
be a very lengthened period to give to this subject, even if
there were not other questions to occupy our time. But,
when I look at the notice paper for this very day, I see no
less than 28 orders upon the list. We have indeed a vast
mass of business before us. It may be, perhaps, business
not of first-rate importance, and some-of which we could,