The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-28 00:00:00

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Iguage ; have they any word which signifies ' delegatee• ti vb.
—They may have ; I speak of the fact, and their Ale Oti„,%„,
the term carries with it a corresponding idea. ItOw would ---:-...„,tV,,'„
you translate ' delegation' into Hindustanee ; ,night not 0. ,7,4;:.
`jarch' be a fair translation of the term ?--eft would • ? vt?
.. ee
rather signify farm or lease. You said that ign fact' 1 . ~,,
fk
the government was that of the crown, •ped that::
the natives, as they become more enlighteined, wi11...:,;„
more and more understand it to be so ?—lt is thc4as. As become more and more enlightened will not the. mie-- 42:).
chief which you consider arises from their notiotr,of ay; V f
farm disappear of itself ?—lt may in that sense, no`doulet,----.„--•
and does ; and yet there arises a proportionate weaknessibg•ghe
the Government, from their seeing that the body held up
as their apparent governors are not their real governors.
Without wishing to speak irreverently, it has somewhat
the appearance of a sham." (Hear, hear.) Throughout
his examination the changes were rung continuously on
the word " sham;" but it gave an idea of what he thought
of the government of his employers or masters, in whose
presence he was speaking. He disposed of the whole ques•
tion as regarded the interests of India, and of this country
also, if we wished to govern India cheaply and beneficially.
He said —" If you were to change the system, and to
govern India in the name of the Crown, you wotild im-
mensely add to the reverence which the people of India
would have for your government, and increase the stability
of your empire in the eastern world." (Hear, hear.) Mr.
Marshman himself, though he did not speak of carrying on
the government of India under the Crown, distinctly and
repeatedly laid it down that the government of India
should be carried on in one office, that the President of
the Board of Control, or whoever was the responsible
minister of India, should sit in the same room with those
who constituted the council, now the Court of Directors
in Leadenhall-street, and should communicate with them
orally, instead of by correspondence as at present. But
what were the evils of this delusive form of government ?
The first and greatest of all was this, that public opinion
was diverted from the subject, that that enlightened
public opinion was not brought to bear on Indian ques-
tions, which would be the case if India were governed in
the name of the Crown, just the same as the colonies had
been. It might be answered that if India were governed
as the colonies had been it would be governed badly ; but
if any good had arisen from our government of the colonies,
it had come from enlightened public opinion emanating
from this country, and chiefly brought to bear on our colo-
nial empire in that house. (Hear, hear.) If there were
any hope for the amelioration of India, it must come from
the same source ; and he wanted the Indian government to
have such a tangible, visible form, that the public opinion
of this country might be able to reach it, and thatethero
might be no mask or screen before it as now. (Hear,
hear.) With an enlightened public opinion brought to
boar more directly on the affairs of India, there would be
a better chance of avoiding that source of all fiscal embar-
rassment, constant wars and constant annexations of terri-
tory. (Hear, hear.) In other parts of the world, no mini-
ster of the crown would take credit for offering to annex
territory anywhere. On the west coast of Africa it might
not be less profitable to extend our territory than in Bur-
mah;
ago,
aforrebsaodlutthieenexotef anscioomn mofitotuere otefrtlatryin house,troicmpanal
many
years g
countries. When an adventurous gentleman, Sir James
siont,:oovfesrnommeentetrrofitosryir
H.
tßhreoockoae,stwoefnßt
Borneo, the
dt
hteeek enlightenedpeesea
Peel and his colleagues resolutely resisted all attempts to
induce them to occupy any territory there. Recently,
when it was announced in the house that orders had been
given to the admiral on that station that on no account
should any fresh territory be acquired, the announcement
was received with loud cheering. (Hear, hoar.) We had
arrived at a point when public opinion in the house and the
country would ;prevent any such thing, and he believed
that the leading statesmen on both sides would resolutely
set themselves against any extension of our territory in
tropical countries. Then how was it that this went on
constantly in India, to the loss and dilapidation of the
finances ? With a declaration in the journals of that house
and in an act of parliament never repealed, that the honour
and interest of this country was concerned in not extend-
ing its territory in the east, still these continual annexa-
tions went on in India. Why did these things happen ?
It was because at the present time all the authority in
these matters was left in the hands of the Governor-Gene-
ral of India. He said virtually, because he believed they
rested in point of law with the President of the Board of
Control. Nothing could be more conclusive than the dis-
tinctness of the avowal of Lord Broughton that he was re-
sponsible for the war in Affghanistan, and Lord Ellenbo-
rough declared that when he was president of that board,
he knew that he governed India. He was therefore, asto- •
nished when he heard the right hon, gentleman opposite
(Mr. Hernes) state that neither ho nor his predeces-
sors in office were responsible for the wars in India, but
that the Governor-General was the person responsible for
them. When there existed such differences of opinion on
such an important question, a question which involved not
only the fate of India, but of England, was it not high
time to come to some definite understanding on the subject?
Was it not right when such differences of oinion existed
between men of the highest authority, that there should be
a little delay, in order that they might all come to an un-
derstanding on so vital a point ? Practically he believed that these things were carried on in India where the Go-
vernor-General was surrounded by an atmosphere of a war-
like tendency—where the mere rumour of war was received
with favour by all that constituted public opinion in that
country. Even Lord Dalhousie himself says on this sub-
ject, that it was his deliberate opinion that in the exercise
of a wise policy nothing could be said against acquiring
new territory or revenue. (Hear, hear.) Yet this was
said in the teeth of an act of Parliament which declared
that it was contrary to sound policy to annex any more
territory to our dominions. (Hear, hear.) And this de-
claration of Lord Dalhousie came out before the declara-
tion of the President of the United States, General Pierce,
who made a qualified declaration that the -United
States would annex territory by every just and lawful
means, and which declaration of the President of the
United States was received with great disfavour in this
country. The English people and Parliament were apt to
regard the government of India as something apart from
their own interests, as something for which they were not
responsible—from which they were to gather fruits with-
out the responsibilities that should accompany them ;
and it was his firm opinion that nothing would awaken
the people of England to a full sense of the responsibility
and peril which attached to them in this matter, but a
due appreciation of the state and prospects of the
revenue of India. (Hear.) Here was the declaration made
by Mr. Marsham, one of the great organs of public opinion
in that country, and ono of its most influential men.
" Every one out of England is now ready to acknowledge
that the whole of Asia, from the Indus to the sea of
Ochotzk, is destined to become the patrimony of that race
which the Normans thought, six centuries ago, they had
finally crushed, but which now stands at the head of Euro.
pean civilization. We are placed, it is said, by the mys-
terious but unmistakable designs of Providence in comman d.
of Asia ; and the people of England must not lay the flat-
' tering unction to their souls that they can escape from th o
responsibility of this lofty and important position by sirup' y
denouncing the means by which England has attained it.
When asked if Calcutta was a good central station for
the metropolis of India, he said, "it may not be at pre-
sent, but it will be a good central station when we extend
our dominion eastward." This showed the projects
which the most influential men in India had in view. Ho
would now refer to the secret committees of the India
House. Did they know what the secret committee of the
Court of Directors was ? He (Mr. Cobden) would tell
them. Why, there were three gentlemen at the India
House, through whom all communications were made from
the President of the Board of Control that affected peace
or war, or annexation of territory. It was in the power
of the President of the Board of Control to sit down and
write an order to annex China, and send that order to
these three gentlemen, who formed what was called the
Secret Committee at the India-house ; and they would bo
obliged to send the order to India for prosecution by the
Gove. nor-General. They might altogether disapprove of
the order, but nevertheless they would be compelled to
send it to India. Mr. Melvin, Secretary to the East
India Company, stated that in all cases of declaration of
war it is within the power of the Board of Control to act
through the Secret Committee, without the concurrence of
Court of Directors—that orders might be sent out by the
President of the Board, through the Secret Committee, to
annex the Burman or the Chinese empire to India without
the English people knowing anything about the order.
The Court of Directors could not knew it. On the ques-
tion being asked—" How are the English people to know
it, if the Court of Directors do not know it?" his reply was
—" Till it comes back from India, till it is a fait accompli,
or the result of the orders is ascertained, they cannot know
it." (Hear.) Now, what was the practical effect of this
state of things ? The Court of Directors were often at-
tacked for not making railways and works of irrigation •
and he thought they deserved the charges brought against'
them so long as they submitted to the humiliation of their
present condition. How could they be expected to make
railways and other public works when they could not pre-
vent the President of the Board of Control, or the Governor
General, at any time wasting the substance which should
be applied to those improvements? Why a Government
so situated did not deserve the name of Government.
(Hear, hear.) He wanted to know what would be the
motives of 24 honourable men who submitted to be taunted
with those evils, and had not the spirit to resist the
cause of it. (Hear, hear.) But, beside the impossibility
of making these improvements, there was another evil
arising from what was called the double government. The
reward these gentlemen got for submitting to this humilia-
tion was the patronage. Now, one of the great evils of
the present government in India was, that the patronage
was disposed of to Europeans in a great many instances
where it ought to have been given to the natives. (Hear,
hear.) As the Court of Directors were paid for their
services by patronage, and not by stipends, they of course
made use of that patronage by bestowing it chiefly
on their friends and relatives in this country. Now,
he wanted to see a great number of natives of India.
brought into the service of the Government. If they
abolished this so-called double government—if they abo-
lished the Court of Directors, and brought the Govern-
ment into one office, under the responsibility and control
of a Minister for India, then public opinion would in-
sist upon the natives of India getting some of this
patronage. (Hear, hear.) On this subject there was a vast
deal of misapprehension in the public mind. Nothing came
out clearer before the committee than this, that the natives
were well fitted to hold the higher class of offices. Indeed,
in a judicial capacity, they already executed 97 per cent.
of the cases disposed of. Let the natives be employed in
some of the high offices—those with salaries of 2,0001. or
3,0001. a year. The natives would be glad to do the work
for less than half those stipends, and that would be to
them as much as the whole amount of Europeans. The
evidence in favour of the capacity of natives to fill the
au-
thorities in Indian matters—Monroe, Malcolm, Elphie-
higher officers was overwhelming. All the great
sten ncurred in opinion on this point. Sir George
Clerk, of Bombay, and Mr. Halliday, in his evidence, took
the same view of the question. The only way of
insuring the employment of natives in the higher offices
was to take away the patronage from the Court of Direc-
tors. Ho would now call the attention of the house to a
which was strikingly
facts
point of considerable importance,
illustrated by theattending the commencement of
the Burmese war in which we wore now engaged. The
hon. member here gave a detailed statement of the cir-
cumstances connected with the origin of the war, with
the view of showing that Commodore Lambert com-
menced hostilities in defiance of Lord Dalhousie's express
instructions that he was to avoid doing so until he had
communicated with his lordship, and received further
orders. Two months atter the Marquis of Lansdowne was
speaking in high terms of the conduct of the King of Ave ;
but at that 'LIME) Rangoon had been devastated, and the
war was going on. (Hear, hear.) Nay, before Lord Dal-
housie at Calcutta had received the King of Ava's answer
to a letter which his lordship had written to him, he was
committed to Nets of hostilities performed in the face of
his own. orders. This brought him to the point to which
he was desirous of calling the attention of the house.
Lord Dalhousie had no power to give orders to Commodore
Lambert in that station ; ho could, merely request and
solicit the eo-operation of the commanders of the Queen's
'come, just as we might solicit the co-operation of a friendly
foreign Power, See whet the effect of this system was. If
Commodore Lavaliert had haul Mat out wall orders fro