The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-07 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENING,

the documents are before thi Directors, who will duly
consider them, I am sure, with every attention to
what is right and proper. I know they will act in
con,istency with the expressed opinion of this Court,
that it is bet'er to leave the matter at present in the
hands of the Executive whom the Proprietors have no-
minated. All, therefore, I have to say is, that it will
be in the recollection of the Court of Proprietors that,
no longer ago than two or three months, a motion was
made in substance precisely the same as this now
before the Court of Proprietors. Under these circum-
stances, I am quite sure that I shall have the support
of the Court in adopting the same course which was
then taken—moving the adjournment of the Court.
That is the course which was pursued on that occasion,
and certainly should again be followed, now the matter
is under the consideration of the Court of Directors. I
therefore move that this Court do now wijourn."
Now, if any Proprietor can put a construction upon that
to the effect that before the Court of Directors
came to any decision on the subject, it would bn
submitted to the Proprietors, I cannot egreo
vtith him. I had: no intention whatever to hold
out such an impression, for, as I said bcfore, it would
have been unconstitutional for me to do so, as the Pro-
prietors have nothing to do with the decision; and Irmust
confess that I am rather surprised that the Hon. and
Learned Proprietor should have attacked me in the
manner he has done.

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN then rote to address the
Court, but w as called to order by
The CHAIRMAN, who reminded him that Mr. Sergeant
Gazelee was in possession of the chair.
Mr. Sergeant GAZELEE, after complaining of the
unwarrantable interruption of the Deputy-Chairman,
and complimenting the Chairman for his impartial
conduct in putting his colleague down, proceeded to in-
sist, that with regard to the question of integrity and
honour he stood upon an equal footing with the Chair-
man or any other member of the Court. The Chairman
had read them his speech from the short-hand writer's
notes, and he should be glad to know who it was that
paid for those notes, or whether the short-hand
writer was
_paid only for reporting the Directors,
or for reporting everything that occurred. If the latter,
he must say that some very garbled reports had been
made of his speeches, indeed in many instances his
speeches had been so altered that he did not know them
when he saw them again.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Now, with regard to the subject-matter in dispute,
lie did not impute any improper motives to
the Chair, but be did maintain that the Chairman
had been placed in an unfortunate position by
his language at the- last Court having been
misunderstood ; for, intentional or not, the words ad-
dressed from the chair induced a belief that another occa-
sion would be afforded them for discussing the question.
But he must be allowed to enter his protest against the
system which prevailed in that Court, whenever a
troublesome question came on, of the Chairman
moving an adjournment. He appreciated the value of
the entertainments and good :dinners given at
the East India house as much as any man,
' but neither good dinners nor any other in-
ducement ought to lead to the shirking of this
question of the Raja of Sattara. It seemed to be
always arranged that whenever it came on the
Chairman should move an adjournment, and now they
were to be put down by being told that their cause was
a bad one becanse thty did not keep their temper.
—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Did they see him out of
temper? On the contrary, he was never more cheerful
and inclined to be good humoured in his life.— (Hear.)
Now came the question. Up rose Sir James Hogg, and
turned all this into fun; but what was fun to him was
death to the Raja of Sattara and his friends. Sir J.Hogg,
had very great tact in turning things into fun and ridi
eule, and that was the way in which the poor Raja of
Sattara and his affairs were treated. He (Mr.
Sergeant Gazelee) agreed with Sir J. Hogg, it
the constitution of the Court of Directors
was bad, that it should be altered, and if any of
the Directors were bad that they should be turned out.
It was all very well for those men in power to say,
" Turn us out." The fact was, that the Act of Parlia-
ment constituting the Court made their seats annual.
The Directors never gave him (Mr. Sergeant Gazelee)
any invitation to any of their grand dinners.—(Laugh-
ter)—and he said from the bottom of his soul, turn
them out.—(Renewed laughter.) The more people saw
of the mockery of their proceedings the more would it be
seen to be necessary that honest and upright men
should be sent into the Court of Directors. When Sir
J. Hogg likened the Court of Directors to the Foreign-
office of the House of Commons, it was a very bad pre-
cedent. With great respect to him, he Mr. Sergeant
Gazelee) would suppore that Sir J. Hogg was a member
of a large constituency. Suppose a question of great
importance came on for discussion, would Sir J. Hogg
condescend to ask his constituents not to give up the re-
presentative character, for that would be treating it as a
matter of delegation, but to ask their advice ? He was
sure in such a case Sir J. Hogg would not say that the
way in which he would act would depend whether the
election was near at hand or not.—(Laughter.) Sup-
pose the question was one of education, would
he consider it as infra dig. to consult the Dissenters
upon it, or would he treat them, as he did
the Proprietors, as men of straw ? He (Sergeant
Gazelee) did not mean to say that the electors were to
control the votes of the representative, but he said every
man would not consult his constituents, and say " Mr.
So-and-so, you are the mover, and you, tMr. So-and-so,
are the seconder of my nomination, what are the wishes
of the constituency on such and such a question, I don't
mean to say it shall influence me; but just, if
you can, say what Mr. So-and so thinks,
and I don't think, it will affect my dignity
to attend to it." That was the whole question. It ono
of the Directors held up his hand, fifty others of the Di-
rectors held up their hands immediately ; if one of them
cachinated, there were fifty ethers who cachinated im-
mediately. But if Sir J. Hogg could divert their atten-
tion from a matter by his fun, if he could make them
laugh and turn them from the subject under consideration,
why his purpose was gained. Let the meeting contrast their
demeanour when in office with their deportment when,
as candidates, they came bowing and scraping to ask
the opinions and the suffrages of the Proprietors. When
those gentlemen got into the direction, was it to be
tolerated that they were to treat the Proprietors with
contumely. He cautioned the Proprietors not to be mis-
led ; the Directors were endeavouring to put this matter
on a false point ; they were misinterpreting Mr.
Hume's words, and were endeavouring to make
the Proprietors believe that they, the Proprietors,
wanted to take upon them the settlement of this ques-
tion. Even if the Proprietors were willing to do this,
why they would be swamped by the influence of the
body of Directors, and there would be an end of the
matter. He (Mr. Serjeant Gazelee) claimed it as a
right, not to dictate to the Directors, but to give his
opinion. They might treat his opinion with contempt,
but all he asked and prayed for was, that they should
do him the favour of listening to that opinion, which
was fearlessly expressed. But let not the Proprietors
be misled; the attempt was not to alter the constitution
of the Court of Directors, but it was to advise in the
matter. He thought if the places were given away a
tittle more according to merit, and less according
to nepotism, the Directors would come out of
these matters with a great deal more credit,
and the Proprietors would not be laughed at. He be-
lieved the Chairman to be a most honourable man.
He (Mr. Sergeant Gazelee) believed he had no sinister
intention; but he said it was a little unfortunate that
he led the Proprietors to believe that before the matter
was settled they should be called together, not to dictate,
but to advise in the matter.

An lION. PROPRIETOR said it might be in the
recollection of the Chairman of the Court of Directors
that he was present at the last meeting, and that he
then made a suggestion after the Chairman's amend-
ment, IN hich the meeting was pleased to approve of, and
stated themselves ready to adopt; and therefore he was
now anxious, particularly if Mr. Hume should be present,
to state his views of what really took place, which
he was bound to state as an independent proprietor
fully confirmed the report which the Secretary
had been pleased to read. He should be very brief in
the observations he had to make, because really it could
be stated in a minute. There was a motion made by
Mr. Lewis, and seconded by some other gentleman, after
which the Chairman immediately moved the adjourn-
ment of the Court, in the words reported, as nearly as
possible, by the Chairman himself. There was then some
discussion as to a matter of form only, and on that
he (the Hon. Proprietor) suggested to Mr. Lewis and
the seconder of the then motion to withdraw it.—(Hear,
hear.) He made that suggestion, because the Chair-
man's amendment would then, as a matter of course, fall
to the ground. What then took place? If, as Mr.
Hume supposed, the Chairman had made his
amendment with the intention that the Di-
rectors would prepare the papers and lay them be-
fore the Proprietors, was it credible that the mover
and seconder would have immediately withdrawn their
motion? Theyj continued the discussion for some
time aferwards. Therefore he (the Hon. Proprietor)
hoped, at least, after what he had stated, his Learned
Friend, Mr. Sergeant Gazelee, would see he must have
been altogether mistaken about the matter. Surely,
after the statement now made, his Learned
Friend would retract anything he had said
harshly of the Chairman. !Ho (the lion. Proprietor) had
no interest in the matter further than to see that dis-
cussions of this kind among V° Court of Directors and
the body!of Proprietors were conducted with decency and
propriety.—(Hear.) It might be Mr. Sergeant Gazelee was
a candidate for the directorship.—(Laughter.) He
could not say wether that was so or not, but at present
he (the Hon. Proprietor) thought he, Mr. Sergeant
Gazelee, had rather confounded the two characters of
proprietor and director.
Mr. LEWIS thought the sooner the discussion was
dropped the better; but there was one question which
he wished to put to the Chairman. Mr. Clarke had
asked the Chairman at the last meeting whether or
not he had referred the question to Mr. Elphinstone?
The meeting all knew that Mr. Elphinstone was a per-
son competent to decide that question, and therefore it
was necessary to see what his opinion was, both as to
the construction of the treaty, and as to the position of
the parties. He (Mr. Lewis) wished to know whether
the Chairman had done so?

A PROPRIETOR said that it was a most extraordinary
thing that those who propounded the laws should have
the power to explain them. It was for the judges to
explain the laws, and not the Directors.
The CHAIRMAN said when the Proprietors saw the
papers they would see whether Mr. Elphinstone's name
was mentioned or not. Ho could not answer the ques-
tion further.

Mr. LEWIS thought the Chairman would find that
to be the opinion of the meeting. The public would be
startled to think that this question had bon argued
without reference to Mr. Elphinstone, and that the thing
hail , been concluded without his being ew,u!ted.

flurne't: th,lt the pipers be printed stud
circulated ainuag6t the Proprietors, Was then put to the
meeting and carried.
The court then adjourned.