The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

known that Sir J. C. Hobhouse was not in favour of inquiry
into the past government and 'present condition of India.
The noble lord thought with him, but subsequently came to
the conviction that it would bo desirable to have a committee
appointed. The committee was appointed, and sat for evi-
dence at the commencement of the present session; and the
noble lord (J. Russell) admitted, in reply to a question put
by him (Mr. Bright), that it, was the intention of her
Majesty's Ministers to legislate for India, leaving the home
department of that Government altogether as it at present
stood. From that time to the present Various rumours had
been afloat. Some thought there would be no legislation at
all ; the next week the rumour was that there would be legis-
lation, and of a sweeping nature, which he never believed—(a
laugh)—and, again, it was conjectured that the legislation
would be such as they that night had beard. Only so late as
Saturday last it was said that the legislation would be of a
very temporary nature, which he (Mr. Bright) confessed he
believed at the time. A question was put to the noble lord
on the subject some few days since ; the hon. gentleman who
put the question was requested to postpone it to Tuesday
evening ; but when Tuesday evening came, the answer to the
question was that the statement of the right hon. baronet
on Friday evening would fully embrace every proposition.
Well, at length it did come out in the statement of the right
hon. gentleman, which had some good things in it—but a
man could scarcely speak five hours without saying somethiug

good. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) But, as regarded the
main proposition, he was not at all convinced that her Ma-
jesty's Government had substituted anything better than the
plan at present in existence. (Hear.) It appeared to him

that the right hon. baronet had made a very long speech in

defence of the Indian Government; but from the great ma-
jority of the observations he (Mr. Bright) wholly dissented.
(Hear, hear.) The right hon. baronet had stated that he let
no individual conversant with India whose opinion it was not
that it would be dangerous to postpone legislating for India
beyond the present year. The right hon. gentleman adduced
as proof of that a private letter written by Lord Dalhousie,
which he (Mr. Bright) did not deem conclusive proof at all
upon the matter. (Hear.) That noble lord was mixed up
in the present system, and was so completely surrounded by
parties who were deeply concerned in the existing state of
things, that he could not be regarded as a superior authority
to any man in ten thousand who never had been Governor-
General of India. (Hear, hear.) Now, in his (Mr. Bright's)
opinion, so far from postponement being felt by the natives
of India as a calamity, he thought no evil whatever would re-
sult from creating in the minds of any number of persons a
feeling that the Government of India was viewed as a great
and solemn question by that house. (Hear.) He thought,
on the contrary, that the feeling created in their minds would
be one of confidence and hope, and that whatever would be
done in the way of agitation Would be more by way of acquir-
ing information, in a friendly and generous spirit, than by
creating an excitement to make legislation difficult. (Hear.)
But coming to the argument on which the measure was based,
he should say the speech was that of an advocate of the East
India Government as at present constituted. (Hear.) It
seemed as if an order had been sent down from the Board of
Control to the clerks of the Court of Directors, telling
them to do everything so as to make it appear that the
existing Government was oue worthy of the confidence of
the country. (Hear, hear.) His (Mr. Bright's) views of it
was this—that the Indian Government, composed of two
branches, not to be amalgamated into one, was a govern-
ment of secresy, and irresponsible to a degree that should not
be tolerated in a country like this, where we had a Constitu-
tional and Parliamentary Government. (Hear.) He had not
the least idea of bringing forward any charge against the mem-
bers of the Court of Directors, as if they were anxious to mis-
govern India. He thought the twenty-four gentlemen of the
board acted as well as any twenty-four gentlemen similarly
elected would act, surrounded with difficulties, and at the
dictation of the Board of Control. (Hear, hear.) Neither did
he charge the Board of Control with not doing as well as it
could have done ; for almost within every two or three years,
sometimes oftener, the president of that board was changed
according to the succession of new administrations. Then
there was the combination of the Court of Directors, so that
the government altogether was of a description which, in his
mind, never could work wisely or beneficially, taken in com-
parison with the principles they had found to be wise in the
Government of this country. The theory of the old Govern-
ment could not be defended; indeed, it had been admitted to
be ludicrous and childish, and he (Mr. Bright) thought the
present plan no better. (Hear, hear.) In 1748 the old sys-
tem was established, a period when the feuds of faction pre-
vailed. The house, in 1813, resolved to continue this system
for twenty four years longer, a time when this country was
at hostilities with France, and again, in 1833, it was re-
enacted, after the hurricane of reform had swept the country,
and when all circumstacces rendered it difficult for the Go-
vernment to pass the best measure they might for India.
(Hear, hear.) But all these difficulties appeared now to have
vanished, and there never was a question brought before Par-
liament more free froni complication, or one in reference to
which they were more at liberty to wisely and fully consider,
than the present. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Campbell stated in his
work on India, that " the division of authority between the
Board of Control and the Court of Directors rendered all deli-
berations slow and difficult, inasmuch as twenty-four direc-
tors sitting in one place, and a Board of Control in another,
were not likely to speedily agree on any point." (Hear,
hear.) Mr. Kaye also condemned the system of double Go-
vernment in the province of Bengal at the period of 1772,
which he termed " a sham and an imposture, certain to be
demolished at the first blow." He characterised it in his
work—which, by the way, had been circulated at the ex-
pense of the Court of Directors, at least the chairman had
made him (Mr. Bright) a present of a copy—as a system
" calculated to introduce corruption, and whilst it ruined our
finances, it also soiled our character." But that was not all ;
Mr. Kaye further described it as a system which " obscured
responsibility and deluded public opinion." (Hear, hear.)
" The past history of India," it continued, " was a history of
revenue wasted, and domestic improvements ruined by war."
This question of divided and concealed responsibility—or ra-
ther no responsibility—was the pith of the present question ;
and the house should take care and not allow itself to be di-
verted from it. The hon. member for Guildford asked why he
(Mr. Bright) did not produce a plan ? He remembered an hon.
gentleman in that house saying, when a similar question was
put to him, " ho would produce his plan when called on."
(Laughter.) But the plan before the house to-night was evi-
dently one concocted between the right hon. President of the
• .ard of Control and the hon. member for Guildford and his
colleagues. Some persons were disposed to undervalue the
importance of this point, and fancied it did not much matter
what should be the form of government existing here, as the
population of India would always, in the mass, be in a condi-
tion of poverty and suffering, and that whatever was to be
done should be done,in India, this country resolving not to
interfere, even though the question involved affected the go-
vernment of some 100,000,000 of human beings. Mr. Kaye,
who appeared to hold a brief for the company, and had writ-
ten a book for them, had endeavoured to depreciate the cha-
racter of the Mogul princes ; but if they referred to the evi-
dence of Mr. Marchmont, who was examined before the com-
mittee, and who was the editor of the " Friend of India," a
newspaper favourable to the Government, they would find
that in his paper, under the date of April, 1852, he stated
that the sengal peasantry were in the most wretched and de-
more than a single meal for themselves
raggrasd,edansdtarate—reltyhehay lived in wretched hovels, wedre clothed in
and their families. If the real condition of those who raised
the harvest, which produced between three and four millions,
Now were
tk known, ns a idt
thatwould B
em ant
le
wasthe earsioabetter
of the
condition
either Madras or Bombay, but it appeared to be the same
everywhere. He was satisfied that when the people of a
country like India were in such a condition of pauperism and
heirstiontingle.
than
wretchedness as that, there must be some serious defect in
the Government. (Hear, hear.) In the report of the cotton
commissioners it was stated that the population was in the
most abject state of poverty and degradation, and tie could
cite many other authorities in corroboration of that state-
ment. One authority stated that their. British rulers in
India were like nothing but locusts, who devoured every-
thing. The right honourable gentlemen had referred to the salt
duties, but he would tell them what the " Friend of India
said upon that point. Although the right hon. gentleman
had endeavoured to persuade them that the consumption was
increasing, the authority he held in his hand, and which could
not be contested, stated that it was rapidly decreasing. In
1849-50, the quantity consumed wa5205,000 tons; inlBso-51,
it was 186,000 tons ; and in 1851-52, it was 146,000 tons—
showing a decrease of 60,000 tons in three years, and at 71.
per ton—a decrease in the revenue of 416,000/. Now, it must
be borne in mind that with their vegetable diet the use of salt
was most essential to health, and must be largely consumed ;
and the large decrease in this prime necessary of life denoted
a declining condition of the population, and that he thought
must ultimately affect very disadvantageously the revenues of
the Indian Government. With regard to the state of crime
and the police system of the district of Bengal, ho found a
statement in the " Friend of India," of April last, which de-
tailed the attack of a zemindar and his armed retainers upon
the factory of a European, to which he supposed he had some
claim, no great encouragement to English manufacturers to
settle there. The police officer sat upon the roof of a hut quite
unconcernedly, while the Europeans and the natives fought a
pitched battle. The house might conceive from that what was
the state of society in a presidency which England had had
possession of for centuries, when such a matter was referred
to as being of ordinary occurrence. He thought that formed
rather a contrast to the picture of prosperityand beauty whit%
the right hon. gentleman had furnished to the house. Much
was said about the construction of great lines of road,and the
rapidity with which the mail was conveyed, averaging, it was
said, ten miles an hour ; but he found that the roads were
everywhere in an almost impassable state, and that on many
of the great lines the rate of travelling was five, four, and in

some cases only three miles an hour. Then look at the perio-
dical famines with which the country was visited. In Madras
the last famine had occasioned a loss of revenue of 1,000,0001.,
the property lost amounting, of course, to many millions more,
while between 200,000 and 300,000 lives were sacrificed. He
hoped the house and the country would not be diverted from
the consideration of these gigantic and incredible evils by the
statements of the right hon. gentleman. .In the North-west
Provinces it would appear that the want of irrigation was
severely felt, although no mean authority had stated that
irrigation was a question not of profit, but of actual exist-
ence. He might refer, also, to the great embankment at
Kistna, which would have saved many hundred thousand
lives if it had been completed, but it was stopped because the
money was wanted for other purposes—he supposed for the
Burmese war. (Hear, hear.) Colonel Cotton had remon-
strated against this, and au attempt was actually made to
suppress the order for the stoppage of the improvements and
Cthoel oenoe
ul
ut Cotton'si7 ,
India
actually remonstrances.
paid
nA s g
consequence
rea dd te h t
of the
theof
we
at
of communication, a sum equal to the whole of the taxation.
He would not now detain the house by entering upon the
question of the administration of justice in India ; but it
would appear that there was an absolute terror on the part of
the native population of coming under the jurisdiction of the
European courts. It was altogether hopeless to expect
Englishmen to invest property in India which might be placed
under the control of the company's courts of justice. That
was one reason why there had, of late years been no 'increase
in the number of persons settling in India. The law Commis-
sion was to have done great things for India, but their report
had been bandied about for years between India and that
country, and the court of directors actually sneered at the
idea of their propositions being carried out, the object evi-
dently being to extinguish the commission altogether. It
wtratairosayui,doOfrajindleidstgraieheo believed it was perfectly true, that there
wasdi not on the face of the earth a more complicated, extraor-
cieufuLdsyiastaetmththeapnreteehuatt
mteormmeeudt.theTandemriignhist-
hon. gentleman had referred to some statistics of Col. Sykes,
haveoubtbleen
ss h
e
which should swhoouulldd d
eav Goverment
d u
established o th et tableo
shuisi t
etlahosnee g
usince,purposes
th andeoy
of
were only accessible to thpl placed
the right hon. gentleman. Colonel Sykes stated that for
oeo Provinces,stmnar w
many years past the average expenditure upon roads, &e., was
300,0( 0/. In 1851, the expenditurewas
above that sum, of
fwahv iocuhr
itthe e,
gNootr t2h4-owste7
,
01estimate for 1852. So that, out of 300,000/ , the three pre-
sidencies of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras reCeived only about
. 60,0001. for internal improvements. (Hear, hear.) It could
proportions
on to s bet:
the