The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-03 00:00:00

sances. He trusted that the whole subject would receive the
serious attention of the Government, in order that they
might not have this scandalous system acted all over againl
by their election agents, in the event of another generoar
election. These persons were scarcely to be blamed,
f
they were acting strictly within the letter of the law. It
g
was the law that was defective, and it required amend-
ment. For his own part, he believed theriG reenville Act
was a great blunder, and that the house ought to have
kept these matters in their own hands. He did not blame
Mr. Brown, he was the solicitor and agent for the Carlton,
and it was doubtless his over zeal for the party that em-
ployed him, that had led him. into these mistakes. It
appeared, however, that his services were fully appreciated
by the party, for it had come President of the Board ofout in evideuce that he was
afterwards appointed by the late
Control as the solicitor to that department, purely out of
esnsideration for his services to the Carlton
thermlub and the
tory party. The right lon. ‘sentleman ember for
Stamford (Mr. Herries) `vas nota present, but if he were he
.vould ask him whether he remembered, in the whole
course of his long experience, any Government having
made so profligate an appointment. (Hes,r, hear.) What
would be said gentlemen opposite if Mr. Coppock had
been appointed solicitor to the Home Department or to the
Treasury ? why, they would never have heard the last of
it. (Hear, hear.) He believed the right hon. baronet who
was now at the head of the Board of Control had so far
retrieved the mistake of the right hon. member for Stam-
ford, that Mr. Brown was no longer the solicitor to that
board. He had been let down as easy as possible by the
office of solicitor to the Board of Control being merged into
that of some other department. (Hear.) But with regard
to the Carlton Club, he had heard since he came into
the house of certain conduct of theirs which showed that
they were the most ungrateful people he had ever heard
of. Some correspondence, it appeared, had taken place
between Colonel Dixon and the conservative party in Nor-
wich as to what had become of him (Mr. T. Duncombe)
and his motion ; and in one of his communications, the
colonel said he was glad to say that Mr. Brown had not
only been dismissed from his situation at the Board of
Control, but also from his situation at the Carlton Club,
and that a friend of his had been appointed in his stead to
fulfil the duties at elections which had hitherto been so dis-
gracefully performed by the gentleman of the Carlton Cl
He had never heard any good reason for this decision of
the club. Some said it was because they had got a coali-
tion Government, and that there were as many members
of the Carlton Club upon the Treasury bench as of the
Reform Club. (A laugh.) He did not know how that
might be, nor whether the Carlton was on a visit to the
Reform, or the Reform to the Carlton ; whichever way it
was he hoped the visit would be short, for he believed there
would be very little chance of parliamentary reform till it
was concluded. (Hear, and a laugh.) He again urged
upon the Government to consider the subject to which he
had called attention during the recess, with a view to the
introduction of some measure early next session.
Lord J. RUSSELL would not enter into thesub.
ub
ssle s jejcerthoef
the Norwich petition ; but with regard to
hon. gentleman had brought under discussion he agreed
with him that there was great abuse in t withdrawal of
election petitions under the existing lawhe . (Hear, ear.)
And he had to state further that the andm would be ma-
turely considered by the Government, a that a bill for
the amendment of the present law for regulating the trial
of controverted elections had been already.
consideration (and there were some important details which
required to be considered carefully would be introduced in
the next session of Parliament. (Cheers.) He wished,
while u
given by —° •on his legs, to call attention for a moment to the
notice
his friend the member for Oxford
University, to bring under consideration the report of the
select committee upon the office of Speaker. He was em-
powered by her Majesty to give her consent to the proposi-
tion recommended by the committee • but as the matter
was important, and might require discussion, and as it
could not be brought on to-day at 6 o'clock without inter-
fering with the arrangements for the Government business,
perhaps his hon. friend would not object to defer it till
Thursday or Friday next,
Sir R. INGLIS would fix it for Thursday, and hoped he
should be permitted to bring on the motion the first thing
on that day.
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE.
Lord D. STUART called attention to a motion he had
on the paper for a select committee to inquire into the •
cost, maintenance, and general administration of the me-
tropolitan
police. He complained that the cost of the
police had increased by 100,0001. within the last five years.
The number of police had been increased by nearly 1,200,
there being now 5,500 men in the force. The inhabitants
of the metropolis did not think it necessary to have so
large a force, and the metropolis was not a. bit better
watched now than it used to be when there were fewer men
and the expense was less. He had reason to speak on that
point, because his constituents contributed one-fifth of the
expense of the police ; and, as well said by the hon.
member for Devonport on a former occasion, the cost of
the old watchmen of Marylebone was 10,0001. a year,
while that of the police was 25,0001. a year, the number of
men being the same, namely, 211—and under the old
system Sir Robert Peel had eulogised that borough as
being a model of public regulation. Although population
might have increased, yet the number of policemen was
out of all proportion, as they had increased 50 per cent.
since their establishment. The expense of the police was
complained of, and it had been admitted to be too great
by the government of the noble lord (J. Russell), for the
right hon. the member for Morpeth, when Home Secre-
tary, had introduced a bill to decrease the police rates ;
but he suddenly altered his mind, and at one o'clock one
morning discharged the order for proceeding with the bill;
and that without notice, thus being guilty of a breach of
faith towards the inhabitants of the metropolis ; and he
gave no reason, except that it was notorious that there
were apprehensions of disturbances at that time (184 s).
Were there any such apprehensioas now ? The people
never were so prosperous, tranquil, or well dispose& and
the Government ought not to disturb that tranquillity by
refusing an inquiry on this subject. All he asked was a
select committee to inquire if the police force was greater
than was required, or if any reforms were required in its
management, and if it was true that the expenditure could
not be reduced, that would be shown, and the peoplewould
be satisfied. lie believed that the result would be diffe-
rent, and that it would be proved that the police might
be as efficient as they were now, and more so, with a re-
duction of the amount which was paid fur it. It was said
by some persons that the police could not be improved,
but he did not subscribe to that opinion, for, although
they were efficient, yet they might be made still more so,
and one mode of doing it would be to increase the num-
ber of their officers, and give those duties to a better
class of men, who would be more fit to command the men.
As it was, the officers were all raised from the ranks,
and were not sufficient in number to keep the men
to their duty, and that was one of the reasons why a
policeman was never to be found when wanted, but were
loitering about areas instead of being at their posts. Some
offences had been committed by the police which needed
inquiry. He had more than once mentioned in that house
a case in which some policemen attacked with their cut-
lasses an unoffendinff* man, broke his arm, and then charged
him with assaulting them. The case was dismissed by the
magistrate, but the men were not brought to trial for the
offence by the commissioners, although they were dismissed
the force. There was another flagrant instance of miscon-
duct which occurred a month or two ago, when a respect-
able woman, the wife of a labourer, who was passing a
police office, was attacked by three policemen, who called
her a prostitute, and struck her a severe blow in the face,
and their treatment of her ended in a miscarriage. This
woman deserved protection as much as the wife of any
member of that house, and it was monstrous that such
an outrage should have been committed by the guardians
of the public peace. The men were brought before
the magistrate, and the one who abused the woman
was fined 10s. and 2s. costs, while the other, who had
struck the woman, and who was in court and heard the
matter going against his colleague, slipped off, absconded,
and had not been taken since. All this sort of thing in-
disposed the public towards this force, and there would
be a still greater indisposition towards it unless the Go-
vernment granted an inquiry. When the late Duke of
Wellington lay in state at Chelsea there was great cause
to complain of the arrangements made by the police for
the management of the crowd ; the policemen on duty
were quite overpowered, and it was not until the guards
were brought on the ground that order was restored, but
in the meantime three lives were lost ; and although the
police arrangements at the funeral were excellent, and
each as to induce the Queen to thank the police, yet at the
lying in state they were disgraceful, and the deaths which
occurred were chargeable on those defective arrangements,
For these and other reasons which he could bring forward
he thought there was very good ground for a select com-
mittee, but of course he should not move for it on the 2nd
of August. The Government had pievented him from
bringing forward his motion at an earlier period, and
all he could say was, that ho would try it again
next session, and bring on his motion at a still earlier
period.

CASE OF THE PARSEE MERCHANTS.
Mr. J- G. PHILLIMORE rose to move " That an hum-
ble address
graciouslybePrented to her Majesty, praying that she
would bemerchants,
to cause the case and memorial
of the Parsee
Mergee to be referreclt' Jevangee Mergee and Pestongee
for the examination and direction of
the Juaicial Committeeher l!rlajesty's Privy Council."
The hen. gentleman then of
the case of these mer-
chants, who were native
irbjects of the British Govern-
ment, and had had thetenarriat:gement of certain cotton dis-
tricts in Berar, in the
liferroers.of the Nizam, as the most
cruel, short of injury to
, he said, that in spite
before Parliament. They complained,
that had ever come
Silts deliberately signed,
of solemn declarations and inst
they had been grossly wren
ponaterfered for their
East India Company had not only 2ort. 916 Nizam, and the
of the very
protection, but were at this moment i
Jamas upon the mortgage of which theuy h:d3eB„,sic't
almost
to the Nizam, and that money had been ,;—;,:a„rl,,e_ ,ed money
exclusively for the support of the conting:it—"'
troops of the company themselves. In support or Posed of
tion Mr. Phillimoro entered at much length, and withme-
minuteness, into the particulars of the pecuniaryi;g„reat
tions and the Nizam, and their correspondence with his
minister, Chundoo Lall, and the British resident at Tv
derabad, and stated that the balance due to the merchants
was
.260,000/. In considering the law of the case, he ar-
gued that, by every code, bypothezation carried its burden
with it ; that even had these persons been subjects of the
Nizam, instead of being British subjects, the East India
Company, having come into possession of the districts in
question subject to all the Nizam's obligations were legally
liable to this undisputed debt.
Mr. J. A. SMITH seconded the motion, and declared
his conviction that the facts of the case, which he reca-
pitulated, were accurate and true, and he read a letter re-
cently written by General Frazer, formerly resident at
Hyderabad, to the Parsee merchants, strongly in favour of
their claims.
Sir C. WOOD disclaimed all desire or intention to de-
preciate the character of these Parsee merchants, but un-
dertook to show that there were grounds for resisting this
claim, which had not been alluded to by Mr. Phillimore or
Mr. Smith, and which were of such paramount force that
he should grossly neglect his duty if he did not conjure
the house to resist the appeal made to their feelings, and
to maintain a policy which had been the salvation of our
Indian Empire. The person by whom these merchants
had been wronged the Nizam, and the sole question
was, whether the Britisha Government were bound to com-
pel that Prince to pay this debt, the British Government
owing these parties no
wrong. The Nizam rany,
and having done them no
denied their claim ; but, conceding
that he did owe the money,the claim was upon him. Sir
Charles gave a counter-historytheofNthe complicated dealings
between the merchants and
not only lands as security for thewho had assigned
advances,Nizam, who
but moneys
due by certain zeminclars; and he hat the com-
pany would not have been justified n argued that
on be-
half of these parties. Recently
long in ar-
entered into with the Nizam, who
rear of his payments for the contingent, I!)een
districts had been, not conceded, but put Jr the possession
of the British Government as a means of Pr(
these payments in future, and among those districts for
portion of the lands formerly assigned to these parties,w ia
then discussed the law of the case, contending that the
assignment of land by a native prince to any British sub-
ject was contrary to oul nau.:lcirel law,which ilea pasties