The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-23 00:00:00

hank must all see with me, that there is
no question_before political, commercial, or social,
so important to the welfare of this country as the ques-
tion we are met to discuss this morning. The position
in which things stand at present is, that the act under
which the directors administer the government of India -
will expire on the 30th of April next. At the beginning
of the last session of Parliament Lord J. Russell's Go-
vernment proposed the appointment of a committee to
inquire, I suppose, into the operation of that govern-
ment in India. The Government of the Earl of Derby
appointed the committee which was sitting last sesSion
and is sitting this. In fact there are two committees,
one in each house. Now, either it was not necessary to
appoint a committee at all, or else it was necessary that
the committee should conclude its investigation be-
fore legislation is attempted. However, that is ap-
parently not the plan proposed by the Government ; but
it is proposed to bring in a bill some time during the
session. It does not appear that it will be very early
in the session but probably in the, hot weather, when
members are not so assiduous in their attendance on the
House of Commons; and, judging from the way in which
these things are often managed, a bill may be attempted
to be got through Parliament without any considerable
discussions, to renew, with some trifling modifications,
the existing Government of India for 10, or it may be
gtaa2hovgivor
teeiyearswhatever
avoided t
almostoe ,n tao no come.
and the
government
nhl
vldee r
naes
fp;meeNtrernonehtywc
speeches
sshttatohevhseeatthta,
mpebhelecialiuvetheeil
established,
been
onetnscnhiesaortmtfteadtal:
naoeesn:f
uhhbtithenaueivgrgnees,
are necessary to be done that the affairs of India may be
well administered- -speaking of the economical condition
of that country—and that the people of this country
may have their fair benefit from our connexion with the
Indian Empire. But lam not bound by rules so strict
as these regulations, or rather by such as bind those
members of the commercial bodies by whom they are
proposed. lam free to assert here, as I have done else-
where, that while all this is true-which is in the petition,
while all of it is necessary, without it there can be no
good done in India—or rather, as regards India—yet,
unless there be a motive power which honestly intends
to do these things, and has the power of doing them,
that these resolutions and petitions are merely so much
waste paper ' • and that the result of the next 10 or 20
years may show no more progress than we have seen
for the last 10 or 20 years. (Hear.) We have had bad
government in Ireland—and it has often been said,
with some truth, I think, that India is 20 Irelands put
together • but in Ireland you have roads, and you have
a great deal done that is never done or thought of in
,India. In fact, the smallee,t, tip ceramonest.,,,gle
Attv-ixlieritasaLle,:thangs—thedt----every, eroveiiim
however tyrannical, has elsewhere thought it neces-
sary to do for the country over which it rules, appear to
have been studiously and pertinaciously neglected by the
Government of India. (Hear.) I believe the whole
thing springs from the imperfection of the governing
machine. I don't charge the East India Company for
a moment with being intentionally a cruel, or oppressive
or tyrannical Government. I know a good many of the
directors, and I have not the least reason to believe,
speaking of them generally, that they would give their
consent, knowingly, to what was cruel or tyrannical in
India ; but then they are a machine so constituted that
it cannot work. We have -Often seen many beautiful
machines brought forward, in mechanics, which have
been admirably finished in every respect, but somehow
or other there was a fault, or they were on a wrong
principle, and no power could be got out of them. It is
just the same with that machine, and, if you come to
look over that machine from beginning to end, you will
see that it is one of the most complex and clumsy that
the ingenuity of man ever devised ; and I don't believe
it possible that any man could now sit down and form a
system of government so totally unfit for the work for
which it was originally designed. It has been stated, I
believe, before the committee now sitting that the dirt
of the kennel through which men haire to crawl to get
to the dirty dignity of an East India director is such,
that many respectable, and some of the most eminent
and able men, shrink from it, and won't be contaminated
with it at all. The result is, that one-third of your East
India directors have never been in India ; merchants,
bankers, and various people in London, who find it very
convenient to have a position like that, and find the pa-
tronage of great use to them in one way or other, are
elected, 24 of them. Six go out and 6 come in each year.
Thirty of them make the roll of the corporation. Well,
their whole business, or nearly so, is the. distribution of
patronage. They get 4001. a year each as salary, but
they each have patronage, the value -of which, according
to the account of a man most competent to give an
opinion, would, if it could be sold, be worth 8,0001. or
10,0001. a-year. To this Government is committed the
whole collection of the revenue in India, every matter
which affects the affairs which we have been discussing
this morning. The great political questions of India ar e
disposed of by the Board of Control, which is anothe r
body, the President of which is always a Cabinet Minis-
ter. The President of the Board of Control is generally
a person who has never been in India, is often a person
who has never paid any attention to India subjects
more than any person in this room. Then, these two
Governments, somehow or other, are expected to carry
on a system of administration advantageously fo r
100,000,000 of people some thousands of miles away. • I t
is one continued jangle and wrangle between these two
boards, from January to December. Why, if you ask a
question in the House of Commons of the President of
the Board of Control, he mumbles something across th e
table which refers you to Leadenhall-street, and suggests
that you should make application to the Court of Direc-
tors. If you move for a return of any kind of statistics
from India, you get it in about two years—(laughter)—
when the thing for which you wanted to use it has en-
tirely gone by ; and then it comes in such a shape tha
I defy any man to make the slightest use of it. (Hear.)
I do state, with perfect sincerity, that I believe the whole
of that is done in order to confuse the public, to mystify
the house, and to make it impossible that you should get
at anything connected with the Indian Government.
And the difficulties that have arisen are so extraordinary
that no man in the House of Commons who has the
slightest regard for his own ease, or almost for his own
reputation will attempt to touch anything connected
with the Indian Government. He is as certain to be
baffled as ever he touches it ; and all the force which this
great corporation can bring against him ; the love of ease,
which I have found the prevailing quality with Presidents
of the Board of Control ; the indisposition of the Govern-
ment to be bothered about India ; and the House of Com-
mons' hate of the subject, is all brought to bear on the man
who meddles with Indian subjects, and everyman who does
so is drawn back by the very hopelessness of the task
which he undertakes. (Applause.) Now, my idea of
what Government should do is this :—Unless they are
prepared, during this session, to bring in a bill involving
a total change in the government of India, and placing
that government directly under the Crown, and making
it directly responsible to Parliament, I humbly submit
that it is their duty to pass a continuance bill for two
years, or three at the outside—say two years, from the
30th of April next year, which would bring it to the 30th
of April, 1856—and then during that time to allow pub-
lic opinion to grow as it is no w rapidly growing through
the country, to allow the question to be fairly, sifted by
the press, thoroughly investigated by committees or
commissions, and at the end of that period to establish
not a government for 10 years or 20 years, with an act
of Parliament terminating at a given period, but a per-
manent government that shall be rightly constructed, as
a principal machine at home ; and then you may rely
upon it that a Government like that, acting through
wisely appointed agents in India, will very speedily, or
as speedily as possible, carry out the various admirable
recommendations contained in this petition. You may
have observed that I brought this subject before the
House of Commons the other evening, in putting a
question to Lord J. Russell. The result of that discus-
sion has been, that the question has been muclidiscussed
privately among members of the House of Commons ;
and I believe firmly that a large majority of the house
are altogether differing from the opinion Lord J. Rus-
sell expressed on that question. And another result has
been the formation of a committee or society in London
to promote Indian reform, to which I believe more than
30 members of the House of Commons had given in
their adhesion before I left town on Saturday last, and I
have no doubt the number will greatly increase. I be-
lieve it is quite impossible for any majority of the House
of Commons this session to pass any measure that pro-
poses permanently—l mean longer than two or three
years—to continue the present government of India.
(The honourable gentleman resumed his seat amid loud
applause.)
Thanks were voted to the chairman, and the meeting
broke up.

STRIKE AMONGST LA.BOITRERS—READING, MONDAY.--
The scarcity of labour in various branches of industry in
this district is weekly becoming greater, and the dissa-
ti
on sfactionincreas to the amount of wages at present paid is
the ase. The carpenters of this town have begun
a movement towards obtaining additional pay to the
amount of 3s, weekly, and a meeting of the workmen is
owpranagiidneg:being
given-
fixed to take place shortly, to determine upon measures
to secure their object. The justice of the claim is, in a
few instances, conceded, and the remaining builders
suffer any inconvenience from a strike by the
will, in all probability yield to the request rather than
present in their employ. The agricultural labourtearksenona
the Caversham-park estate, near this town, have
at
most decisive step towards
Mr. Crawshay, the proprietor (the eminent
to labourers
always been noted for the liberal wages Paidonths since, when
on his extensive estates ; but a 7_
feMrm Crawshay reduced
provisions were unusually cheap, .
gaining increasinhaeasdetevzheass.
them from 12s. to 10s. per week
much, and the men
sion markets have advanced veryl.:f wages would be re-
naturally expected the old
Sea
This, however, has not
Latterly, the provi-
sion
to by their master.
e. It has not been granted,
they
all
applied
for
"urers on the estate, numbering
beenbetween
n6e ,0 andand on 7
and the whole of the
,Sati:nrucay,
asthethsetemwawrdas,
oths
no probability of
interview with Mr. Crawshay early this
They had an
informed them that at present he could
morning, and
he
ode to their request, but they should
not at present accede
his determination. The men left
e trekadd i
ttihowinshaelmn
'n a few days .
h they excited
ere
know i
came into Reading, w
the work and
much interest amongst the
f the strike.
of the particulars o
... .._.

MARIA ANTONIA MINING COMPANY.—There was
also a meeting of the Maria Antonia Company
.yesterday,
at which a dividend of 3s. on the old shares and ls. on.
the new shares was declared. The accounts showed a
balance in favour of the company of 7,0261. 4s. 4d.
The passenger traffic was expected to improve on the
opening of the Peschia line and the Central Italian line,
which would connect Northern Italy with Florence,
Leghorn, and Rome. In answer to a question, the
chairman said another call would be made in December,
and another in the year 1855. The report, after some
discussion, was adopted.