The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-04 00:00:00

termed " the renewal of the East India Com-
pany's Charter." Much more, however, is im-
plied. than " meets the eye," or rather, in the
prase nt instance, " the ear." The question is
not, merely whether we are to continue for any
and, what time certain privileges to a commercial
cons pany, by means whereof they may be enabled
to. lay handsome dividends to their stockholders,
or Proprietors—whether we are to break the fall
of those leviathan monopolists by giving further
time, that they may be enabled to set their
house s in order ? but rather whether we shall
permit the welfare and happiness of a population
fiveiiild that of the United Kingdom, and more
than. one-sixth of the inhabitants of the globe,
to r amain in the hands and subject to the caprices
of t wenty-four elderly gentlemen, who are required
to 'show no qualification for the arduous and im-
portant duty but the possession of a certain
amount of X. s. d. invested in East India
Stock. Nor are the constituency by whom the
Members of the Hon. Board are to be selected in any
degree more competent. Rich widows and wealthy
soinsters, who are so fortunate as to possess the re-
quisite number of asterisks before their names,
may, although not qualified to vote at the elec-
tion of a parish officer, decide the return of
llon. Directors in whom the patronage of all
the important offices under the Anglo-Indian Go-
vernment are vested. The owners of capital
stock to the amount of 6,000,0001. sterling, which
may, in 1874, be redeemed by the payment of
12,000,0001., and who, in the meantime, receive
630,000/. per annum, being 10i per cent. on their
original investment, or, at least, on the nominal
amount of their holding, are allowed to exercise a
material influence over the destinies of—we had
almost said "to hold in slavery" —l5O, 000, 000 of
their fellow-creatures. Verily, Hindoos are held
cheaply in the market. Their ebony brethren
who, according to Mrs. STowE, sell for from 500
dols. to 1,500 dols., may regard with contempt
those twenty-five of whom, on the average, are
consigned to the tender mercies of the possessor of
one pound of stock, or 6,250,000 human beings
to a Director—the qualification or purchase money
for which appears to be the possession of
4,000/. India Stock, the outlay of 3,000/.
or 4,0001. hard cash in Committee-rooms
at the London Tavern, and canvassing ex-
penses, liberal promises as to the exercise
of his patronage in favour of some at least of
his supporters among the " immaculate" constitu-
ency and a course of fawning and flattery
during some six or seven years service, not in
India—not in any manner that would qualify him
to discharge efficiently the duties of his situation,
but in haunting the resorts of those whose suf-
frages he is to gain by any means, per fas ant
nefas.

Such is the constitution of the body to whom we
hand over, if not the government, at least the
patronage, of our magnificent Oriental Empire. It
is a clumsy contrivance after all, and one that
will not bear investigation, to divide the power be-
tween the Board of Control and the Court of Di-
rectors, so that either party, when called to ac-
count, may contrive to shift the responsibility
from their own shoulders, and to cast the blame,
for which the occasions are but too frequent, upon
others. If the Directors be assailed for the exor-
bitant and ill-used power of the Legislative
Council, the flagrant disregard of the rights and
privileges of the native princes, as exemplified in
the case of the unfortunate and deeply-injured
Rajah of SATTARA, or for the gross extortion on
the RYOTS—the salt monopoly--the neglect of
oducation-L-or the defective roads of the territory
—they shelter themselves under the shield
of the President of the Board of Control,
while that fortunate individual in turn interposes
the Honourable Court between himself and any
formidable missile ; thus, like Clown and Panta-
loon in the Pantomime, alternately presenting the
wrong aspect to any assailant.

There can be no possible reason why this ridi-
culous system should continue a single hour be-
yond the period improvidently granted, which will
expire next year. The proprietors made an ex-
ceedingly good bargain when they obtained a
Government guarantee for 10i per cent. on the
original stock, which cannot be interfered with
until 1874, and which must be paid although our
influence in Hindostan were practically annihi-
lated, and which then can only be redeemtd
at the rate of 200 per cent. They • cannot
complain if they are no longer permitted to
retain the semblance of political power, the reality
of which is vested in other bands ; or the distri-
bution of patronage, which is rarely exercised in
favour of the most worthy or those who possess
the strongest claims.

The. natives of India—those who are so deeply
interested in the, to them, vitally important
topic=are, we rejoice to find, bestirring them-
selves. Last week we alluded to the petition
which emanated from till) Bombay Association,
the great—almost too great—moderation whereof
gave it peculiar force. Another, and even more
interesting, document has come to hand from the
Madras Native Association, couched in the most
temperate language, and which, after simply
alluding to the grievances to which they are
exposed, prays for "inquiry, and that the Char-
ter of the Company may only be renewed from
year to year, until that inquiry be brought to a
conclusion." This is a just and reasonable de-
mand—one that should not be slighted or
neglected. We regret that neither time nor
space permit us to enter this day into the allega-
tions so powerfully put forward. We shall,
however, take •an early opportunity of so doing,
and of offering some observations on one of the
most remarkable remonstrances that ever emanated
from an oppressed and injured community. We
confess that we should do so with greater pleasure
if any member of the Cabinet other than Sir
CHARLES WOOD presided over the India Board,
and was bound to take these well-founded com-
plaints into consideration. The "laisser flare" policy
however, will not answer in the present instance.
Something must be done. And we trust that the
remaining Cabinet Ministers may stimulate their
sluggish colleague. It is sufficient that one Go-
vernment has been overthrown—one party ejected
from power through the vis inertia displayed by
the Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Hali-
fax.

Next to Mr. HUME, in his capacity of " inde-
pendent Member," obtaining a Committee, and to
Mr DISRAELI, in his capacity of Statesman, recog-
nising the taxable difference between fixed and
precarious incomes, the public will be hardly less
indebted to Mr. FARR, in his capacity of Actuary,
devoting his high qualifications to the adjustment
of the Income Tax. We owe him thanks for
every one of his masterly letters ; but were never
more struck with the superior value of practical
knowledge of life, combined with science, to mere
science, than in his last communication, in which
he completely demolishes the famous "class in-
come" argument of Mr. BARRAGE.

Were a Norfolk farmer to purchase a lean bul-
lock for 101., to give him 51. worth of food, to
sell him for 201., and then to tell his neighbours
that he had cleared 151. by his beast, and all the
manure besides, his brother bull-frogs, as CosBETT
used to call them, would laugh heartily at the
blunder. Yet precisely similar is the blunder of
which Mr. FARR convicts such mathematicians
as Mr. BABBAGB and Mr. GLADSTONE in regard to
the Income Tax ! As in the case of terminable an-
nuities, Mr. FARE shows that they would be guilty
of including capital in income. In plain language,
to tax incomes from fixed and precarious sources
alike is confiscation of capital in the case of the
latter. Mr. BABBAGB'S argument, confessedly the
most plausible one for this injustice which has yet
•
appeared, is as follows :---

" Society is divided into classes ; individuals of the
class change, but the income of the class remains the
same. The income of the tradesman class, of the la-
bourer class, and the farmer class, all are as permanent
as the income of the landlord class and the fundholder
class ; all classes ought, therefore, to contribute on the
whole amount of their income, because, as classes, their
incomes are equally permanent."

Now Mr. FARR shows that, as classes, they do
differ, and differ very widely. The precariousness
of life is common to the individuals of all the
classes ; but the dependence of the income in the
one case coll that precarious element of the claw/