The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1853.

India bids fair to become a ministerial difficulty
of no ordinary magnitude. The just complaints
of the native inhabitants of the-Eastern empire,
corroborated and confirmed by European residents
of high respectability and unimpeachable charac-
ters, have excited feelings of deep sympathy and
compassion among the people of the United King-
dom. • The clear and convincing statements con-
tained in the petitions from the three Presidencies,
exposing such deplorable instances of misgovern-
ment, exemplified as well in acts of omission as
commission, have attracted the public attention
too forcibly to permit the renewal of the East
India Charter for a further period of ten or twenty
years without any material change or modification.
It is naturally asked, why should.the destinies of
150,000,000 of British subjects be handed over
to the tender mercies of 24 elderly gentlemen
not possessing any peculiar qualifications for the
arduous and important duty ? Or why should
the possessors of certain stock, to the amount of
6,000,0001. sterling, with interest guaranteed by
the British Government at the very liberal rate of
10i per cent. per annum, and then only redeem-
.able on payment of 2001. for every 1001. stock,
he alone entitled to interfere in the government of
our Oriental dominions, by electing the Directors
who govern, or are supposed to govern, the wide-
spread territory, and who certainly exercise the
valuable patronage appertaining thereto 7 It must
be quite clear that the proprietor of last India
Stock has no real interest in the prosperity of
India. No matter how ample may be its revenue
or large the surplus in its exchequer, he will receive
only his 101. 108. on every 100/. ; and if Hindostan
completely passed from our hands—if the British
standard no longer floated over a single fortress
or an acre in its soil—the same 101. 10s. should
be paid from the British revenue to the fortunate
stockholder. The English tax-payer has an ade-
quate motive to increase the Indian revenue, inas-
much as the surplus will go in aid of the other
demands on him, while he must make up the de-
ficiency, whatever it may be. But the East India
proprietor, as such, has none whatsoever. He is
secured, under any circumstances. His bond
must be liquidated to the last farthing. There
can be no refusal to pay, or even procrastination
as to payment.
The divided Administration is notoriously in-
jurious, leading to postponement of beneficial legis-
lation, while the matter under consideration is ban-
died backward and forward from Leadenhall-street
to Cannon-row, and from Cannon-row to Leadenhall-
street, from the Court of Directors to the Board
of Control, and back again to the honourable court.
It creates a division of responsibility that is very
injudicious and impolitic, permitting, as it does,
the real. Autocrat of the Anglo-Indian empire, the
de facto successor to the GRAND Mocnm, to escape
the censure to which he would otherwise be liable
by transferring the odium to the twenty-four pup-
pets east of Cornhill. We are, perhaps, wrong
in terming them "puppets," for, although power-
less for good, they are still potent for evil. We
have seen the effects of their work in occasioning
the recal of perhaps the most able Governor-
General of the present century, and in crippling
the operations of one of England's most distin-
guished generals. A sincere and zealous determi-
nation to remove prevailing abuses, and to improve
the condition of the native population, was the
head and front of the offending of these two
eminent men. They would not truckle to the
prejudices of the Honourable Board, or pursue
the beaten course which was fraught with so much
danger to the welfare and happiness of myriads
of human beings—they dared to think for them-
selves, and were therefore selected as objects of
the petty vindictiveness of some of the Directors.
The conduct pursued towards the Earl of ELLEN-
BOROUGH and Sir CHARLES NAPIER, should
suffice to prevent the renewal of the Charter, even
if there were no other cause.
It may
be said—and we believe it has been as-
serted—that the Directors are efficient and ex-
perienced councillors, whose sage advice is cheaply
Purchased by the transfer of the enormous pa-
tronage to their hands. They may certainly have
some amount of experience—many of their
number have, We believe, served in India—but
it is a mere accident whether the most efficient
candidate be selected ; the present system of elec-
tion affords no
guairanteet.
whatsoever as to the
fact. The only qtia
ma ions re ired are the
possession of a certain amount of
India Stock, and
a fawning canvass of three or four years, and an
expenditure of some 3,000 t. or 4,0001 •
. committee-
rooms and other canvassing and
ing
t
expenses, with perhaps some aignifielectioneer is
as
can,
hints to the mode in which the future Patronage will
be exercised. The possessor of the Parliamentary
franchise will be severely censured if he accept a
promise of a situation for some friend or relative
as the condition on which he will bestow his sus_
fraqe on the obsequious candidate ; but there is
nothing to prevent the wealthy possessor of East
India Stock, with one, two, or three stars to his
name, from stipulating
for a cadetship or writeracquainship for some promising youth of his
ante.

The very conditions essential to success in such
a contest would prevent many of the most eligible
persons, those who could suggest useful reforms,
who would really be beneficial councillors, from
coming forward. Nothing, indeed, could be more
fatal to success than the exhibition of any sym-
pathy with the natives, or any desire to improve
\ 0.. their condition.
194.. s
the patronage
theret be no mistale about the matter. It
thegew alone that is cared for. . For that
tronage
, thee Directordegradation
histo p thero..
~..„ tr able, the expense
fr cted canvas.
-:. his ti
.., atsuionbmolfts
For that he devotes three years
Limo to hatnitint, f h.
aces, where rich invalids
)
•. as ionable watering-
, or wealthy dowagers or

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