The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-13 00:00:00

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" The King can make a belted Knight,
A Lord, a Duke, and a' that,
But an honest man's aboon his might,
My faith he canna shaw that."
The people of Paisley felt that they had got an honest man
for their representative. The tribute then before them was
paid to a patent far higher than nobility. They begged him
to accept the likeness of an honest man in the likeness of him.
self. It was a proud thing, too, that the subscribers had not
been forced to employ the chisel of a foreigner. The statue
which was then before them was worthy of the chisel of Phi-
dias, yet he was proud to say that it was the work of a native
artist, the work of Mr. Fillans, a self-taught and really cleser
artist. He felt much gratified at being the medium through
which such a tribute was paid to the worth of a very old arid
valued friend. It was with feelings of proud satisfaction that
he begged Mr. Hastie's acceptance of a true likeness of him-
self, which did honour to the givers as well as to the receiver.
Mr. HASTIE returned thanks, actuated by feelings of no
ordinary nature, which were roused not only by the kind man.
I th:r in which his friend had made the presentation, but also by
the t;:oughts of his being so kindly remembered by his fellow
tom-ismer:. To have received from them such a mark of their
kindness ant; esteem was a reward which he had never eon.
templated, and ;yhich he felt he did not deserve, for he had
dune nothing but tn.. duty, and what many of his townsmen
would have done. To have received such a mark of esteem
f rim all parties in his oath p town was an honour of such mag-
nitude that he had riot languago sufficiently eloquent in which
to express the feelings of his heart. Tire bust lrould remain
with him, and would be at all times a rernembrancer to biro of
one of the proudest moments of his life. He could not say
more, but most sincerely return his thanks to all concerned,
and he would propose with all_ sincerity " The Town and
Trade of Paisley."
According to the wishes of the subscribers, the bust was
then removed to the National Gallery, where it is to be ex-
hibited for some time.
The dinner and wines were most excellent, and did much
credit to Mr. Younghushabd.
The party spent a very happy evening, and kept up the hi-
larity to a late hour.

ELECTION COMMITTEES.
(YESTERDAY.)

(From our Second Edition of last night.)
HULL.

Robert Tadman was objected to.—Geo. Levy stated that
at the election he engaged a band by order of Mr. Quin for
the Blue party. Tadman was one of the band, and received
12s. 6d. a day for five days, and 11. on the day of election.
Mr. WRANGIIANI contended that musicians did not come with
the persons disqualified by the Act, and that they were merely
employed in their ordinary avocation. la the Eveshau► Com-
mittee bell-ringers had been held not to be disqualified.
The Committee struck off the vote.

James Yeall Grove, another of the band, was next objected
to. He was proved to have received from Mr. Levy the same
sum as Tad man, and it also appeared that the money came
from Mr. Quin, he having paid Mr. Levy about 1001. for the
band.

The Committee struck off the vote, and then adjourned until
Saturday morning at eleven o'clock.

SLAVERY.—On looking over our colonial papers,
we find that the House of Assembly in the Island of Montser-
rat, had forwarded a message to the Council, in which they
acknowledge the propriety of putting an end to the appren-
ticeship in that Island on the Ist of August next, and her Ma-
jesty's Attorney-General having been directed to brinz in a
Bill to repeal the Act which had been passed for the abolition
of slavery, presented the same, the first reading of which took
place on the 11th of January. In Barbadoes the Governor,
Sir E. J. AV Gregor, sent a message to the Legislature of that
colony, on the 15th of January, recommending complete
emancipation to the prandial and non-prwdial apprentices in
the present year. His Excellency, in recommending the
adoption of this measure, says " that on examining the inter-
nal and external relations of the country, the moment seems
to have arrived, in which all intermediate and miner consitler-
t ions ought to yield to the paramount object of permanently
c menting the common interests of the employer and cm-
ployrd."—The c ditor of the Barbadian, in arguing on the
expediency of the proposed measure, asserts, that "to mkt.:
away the two years' labour of our people, without compen-
sation, will be a glaring wrong;" he says that "the
country is not prepared by proper laws, for the state
of unqualified freedom ;"—that " two years inure of
probation would, in all human probability, prove a blessing to
the labourers ;" and "that the mere agitation of the
subject at this time is fraught with mischief." On
the other hand, the Editor of the Liberal maintains
that the entire abolition of the apprenticeship term will be
beneficial alike to the planter and the labourer, and denies that.

, .
" two more years of probation" in a state of Slavery can
" prow a blessing" to any class of men.—" Some of these
people" he says " have been under probation for 30, some 40,
and some 60 and 70 years, and where are the blessings which
they have enjoyed ?" And then with regard to the country not
being prepared with proper laws for the state of unqualified
freedom, we find in the columns of the Liberal the following
excellent reaiarks :—" We should like to know when the
country will be prepared with proper laws ? On the let
August ensuing, the whole body of pon.praldials will be un-
qualifiedly free, and if the argument o,e our contemporary be
worth any thing, it must apply to these with less force than
to the Fredial classes. The rural population, this, as in
every other community, arc decidedly more moral, more every
thing that is praiseworthy than the population of the !owns,
and if these are to be thrown upon ' the country, uoprepaart
by proper laws for their state of unqualified freedom' whose
fault is it ?" This question is rather a poser, and will no
doubt be best answered by the Committee, appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Assembly to r?ply to the Clovernor
communication : the Barbadians we trust will act with the
same liberality which guided the conduct of the inhabitants of
Montserrat, and thus estabiiih for themselves a character for
humanity which will entitle them to the praise and honoue
every Christian nation.—Falmouth (Jamaica) Post.
A SLAVER CAPTURED.-011 the morning of the
21st January the Wanderer and Serpent being in company off
Cuba, observed two vessels steering different courses ; the for-
mer gave chase to one, and the latter to the other. The
Wanderer, however, observing the Serpent's chase bear up for
St. Jago de Cuba, hauled up to cut her off. The Serpent,
having opened a well-directed fire at the slaver's masts, and
she, finding herself much pressed, put several negroes into a
sinking boat, and cut her adrift ! This she did, in the hope
that the Serpent would heave to for the purpose of saving
their lives. Fortunately, the Serpent being provided with
quarter boats, was enabled to lower them, without the aid of
stationary sails, and thereby saved the lives of five negroes.
The slaver schooner, finding there was no chance of escape,
run ashore about eight miles to the eastward of the entrance to
the harbour of Saint Jago, .and went to pieces almost. imme-
diately. By the very great exertions of the officers and boats'
crews of her Majesty's sloops, 121 slaves were embarked in
safety ; two were drowned. The master, mates, and crew of
the slaver escaped. No papers, or colours, were found, nor
could the name of the slaver, or the flag under which she
sailed, be ascertained.—Jamaica Despatch.

THE MELTON R. 10T.—Mr. Heyrick, as might
have been expected, from his high character, has redeemed
his pledge respecting the Marquis of Waterford and the other
aristocratic rioters at Melton, and the Court of Quarter Ses-
sions has also—no thanks, to Henry Halford, Esq., M. P., and
certain clerical magistrates—preserved its character for im-
partiality in the eyes of the public, by sending the deposition
to Lord John Russell, accompanied by a statement of the fact
of the prosecution having fallen through—the Melton con-
stables (who, we hear, have been dismissed) best know why.
It now remains with his Lordship to direct the Attorney-
General to prosecute, and, for the sake of equal justice, we
trust he will not flinch from what is clearly his imperative
duty, unless, indeed, the surmises of Mr. Heyrick as to the
state of the Marquis's health be correct, in which case com-
mon humanity would draw a veil over the whole proceeding.
At all events, if the Home Secretary should decline bringing
the Marquis to trial, he will, at least, remove him ft em the
Commission of the Peace, it being clear that so notorious a
peace.breakeris not precisely the sort. of man to punish other
brawlers.—Leicestershirc Mercury.

Berlin letters of the 31st ultimo bring accounts of
the extensive proinotion in the Prussian army which had taken
place on the preceding day, and which they state to have caused
some sensation. These promotions, in fact, amounted to a
complete re-organization. The Princes of the Royal Fatally,
who heretofore held military commands, had all been deprive*
of them, with the exception of the son of Prince William, AA ho
has been appointed General of the Royal Guard. The first
&vision of the army, consisting of the first and second corps,
had been placed under the orders of the P.inve Royal, the
second was to he commanded by Prince William, and the third
by Prince Frederick, in Dusseldorf. General Muffling was
named Governor of Berlin, and the Grand Duke Paul of
Wirtemberg Lieutenant-General.

A letter of the 29th ult., front Goiitz, states that
the exiled Royal Family continues to enjoy good heal h.
Mlle. de Rosny had been confined to her apartment for a few
days by a slight indisposition, but was then completely re-
covered. The family will leave Guritz for their summer resi-
dence at the end of or the beginning of June.

~~~1

PAISLEY TESTIMONIAL. bra
On Tuesday night a number of ge-itlemen belonging to
Paisley entertained their respected Member Mr. Hastici in the
Gerrard's Hall Inn. They were a sort of deputation, 3iatiing
been entrusted with the presentation of a bust of the Huncur -
able Member, which had been subscribed for amongst his con-
stituents.
The cloth having been drawn, the usual loyal toasts were
given and responded to with enthusiasm.
The CitAtamAN (Mr. Walkinrfshaw) said they had then ar-
rived at what might be considered' as the toast of the owning.
Before proposing it, he had a very pleasing duty to peorform,
which was to present to his old and intimate friend, Mr. Has-
tie, a tribute which had been paid him by his fellow towlnsaaen
and constituents. It was not presented to him through any
feelings of political partizanship—the feelings which dictated
the tribute were of a higher and holier nature—they were the
feelings of gratitude for the many acts of beneficence which he
had shown to his townsmen, and for the g-reat attention he had
paid to the interests of his native town. Be had been an ex•
tensive benefactor to the poor, and they blesh.ed him—he had
been the uniformly kind friend of the inhabitant; of Paisley,
and they loved him. In his person was refuted ti.,c old saying
that the public benefactor never met with a public return. His
fellow townsmen, through him (Mr. \V.), begged that Mr.
Hastic would accept their heartfelt and warmest thanks for all
his kindness to them. As was said and sung by ScOtih'S
Poet—

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Poor old Sir Francis Burdett is about to be led round
tb.e country again during the present recess, in order to
make show of him at sundry Conservative dinners in Liver-
pool, Leeds, Newcastle, &c. This is really pitiable, and
we think that some of his old friends, if he have ally left,
ought to interfere on his behalf to prevent this melancholy
exposure of personal infirmity and mental imbecility. How
the Tories can have the heart to drag him about in this
way from place to place might be a wonder, if we had not
seen that they have done it before. The nation knows
to its cost that they have neither compassion nor re-
morse. They fancy that it will answer the purpose of the.
party, and therefore they have no consideration far his
convenience or his character. Poor Old Gleey ! We little
thought, twenty years ago, when you were the idol of the
mob, the unhesitating advocate of extreme reforms,
that it would come to this at last !—Sic transit gloria.
It seems that he is to figure at Liverpool on St. George's-
day ; and on Wednesday we inserted a curious specu-
lative paragraph, as to the doubts that may well
be entertained there, whether he really is the same
Sir Francis Burdett who, about the year 1818, was
entertained by Dr. Shepherd and several hundred other
staunch supporters of the Liberal cause, as a man who 11
had earned the gratitude of the people by the manner in
which he had fought the battles of the people. The in-
stability of popular gratitude is proverbial, but it is nothing
to the instability:of popular claims to it, taking the poor
old broken-down Baronet as one instance in point. Unfor-
tunately we have others, although the contrast may not be
equally striking. Sir James Graham never stood so high
in the expectations of the inhabitants of this country—not
because he did not make all kinds of efforts to obtain
public confidence, but that those efforts were too violent
and sudden, and inspired some distrust among the
most wary watchers of candidates for popular fa-
vour. Nevertheless he is another proof of the
strange discrepancy between two portions of the con-
duct of the same individual. Sir James Graham, how-
ever, is without the excuse of Sir Francis Burdett ; he
is not a man who has outlived his powers : such faculties
as lie formerly possessed Sir James Graham still retains ;
and though they were overrated by such as were disposed
to think well of him, they were enough to have kept him in a
straight course, had he not possessed so strong a disposition
to tortuosity. Not a few have thougot that he ought to
form a " companion piece " to Sir Francis in his progress
through the north of England ; but he knows better : he is
too cunning to put himself so nearly in contact with Cum-
berland, and it has been publicly stated in several quarters
that while the Wiltshire worthy is peregrinating in Lanca-
shire, Yorkshire, and Northumberland, the Pride of Pem-
broke, after visiting his " free and independent consti-
tuents," will make a tour in the south-west of England, to
the delight of those whom Cobbett used to call the chew-
bacons of Gloucester, Somerset, and North Devon.
We wonder what the Tories expect to accom-
plish by this parade of political perfidy. Do
they think it will gain any credit to their party
to make a pair of spectacles of these turn-coats ?
Do they imagine that even the most inexperienced
and ignorant will be deluded by it, and that it will be sup-
posed that they are anxious only to prove what respect and
honour they feel for such as abandon their early principles
and join the Conservative standard ? Do they hope thus
to invite new proselytes, who may fancy that they in turn
will share in the same flattering demonstrations ? In public,
indeed—at the feeds got up for the purpose of exhibiting
the backsliding baronets—all outward testimony of attach-
ment and estimation will not be wanting ; but if those who
are present on such occasions could only hear what tho-
rough-going and consistent Tories say in secret of such men
as Burdett and Graham, despising them even more hear-
tily than they are contemned by the Liberals they have
abandoned, there is every chance, that instead of securing
the adhesion of new partisans, they would be forsaken by
many of those who in various ways have been made the vie-
tims of deception. The object of Sir Francis Burdett, as far
as he can be supposed capable in the present state of
his mind, of entertaining a definite object is clear enough :
" His head aches for a coronet,
For who is blest that is not great?"
It has long ached for it, and it is likely to ache to the
end of the chapter. For the chance of obtaining this
"nil ultra of his proudest hopes," as Sir Giles calls it, he
made his first attempt at circunegyration ; but unluckily,
Just about the time that he completed it, out went the
Tories, and away went his expectations until the brief re-
turn of Sir Robert Peel to power, who was too prudent
to commit such a false step in the outset as bestowing even
a barony upon the baronet. Since then Sir Francis has
been daily trusting that some unexpected turn would re-
store the reign of Toryism, and reward him for his tergi-
versation. He knows that this is now his only resource,
and he has therefore consented to be carried about the
country, at an age a.-ad in a manner that might almost jus-
tion of Cruelty to Animals. Externally be may be
tify the interference of the Society for the preven-
treated with ceremony ; but we are much mis-
taken if, in fact, he will not have to endure as
hard a servitude as poor Lazarillo de Tormes,
Nyln was shown about as a strange fish, up to
the neck in water, and with his head mercilessly
thrust under the surface whenever he attempted to remon-
strate. All this, we say, is truly pitiable on the one side,
and utterly diseraceful on the other ; but what is the poor
old Baronet to do ? His vanity will not let him live with-
out notoriety : notoriety was the spur to his early exertions
in the cause of liberty : notoriety is the end of his later sa-
crifices in the cause of Toryism, and these sacrifices he
'vainly hopes will be recompensed by a Viscounty or an
Earldom. In the mean time he is mercilessly driven from
town to town in the feebleness of his age and in the in-
firmity of his faculties, and he, who in the vigour of man-
hood, like a noble steed, " made the glory of his nostrils
terrible" to the enemies of the people, is now become, like
" the high-mottled racer, a hack on the road" of political
profligacy, and seems destined to end his days in the " sand-
cart" of public degradation. —Morning Chronicle.
Unhappily for the cause of humanity, for the sake of re-
ligion, morality, and the welfare of the nation, some of
those great questions most affecting the feeling and desires
of the bulk of the nation have too frequently been made a
handle to serve party purposes ; and afterwards not only
abandoned, but with all their hideous deformities aggra-
vated tenfold by practice in some, by the concurrence of
opinion of others, and the still more disgraceful and bare-
faced abandonment of principles on the part of those who
not only possess the power, but have the means at their
command, of doing away with the evil. We are now par-
ticularly alluding to the conduct of some portion of her
Majesty's Government upon the subject of Flogging in the
Army, and the striking illustrative examples of abandon-
ment in one person of previous convictions. We are well
aware that some portion of the press in England, as well
as of that in India, and that some Members of the House
of Commons, will point to the murders which have taken
place of so many officers by the native troops in India since
Lord 'William Bentinck abolished flogging in the army,
as an argument in favour of it. We shall, however,
soon be enabled to convince them that those mur-
ders owe their origin to a very different cause. But at the
same time that we deny the effect from such a cause, wa
must, in the most unqualified and unmeasured manner, de-
nounce Lord William Bentinck's conduct in taking upon
himself the responsibility, at the very hour of his embarka-
tion for England, of abolishing flogging in the native army,
while at the same time he reserved it for the European
troops. We have now before us a copy of a very valuable
work, which our readers will recollect we had occasion, two
years ago, to refer to, entitled " Remarks on Military Dis-
cipline, Flogging in the Army, with a New Code of Punish-
ments, for the Consideration of his Majesty's Ministers,"
by Captain W. White. On the 9th of April, 1836, we
mentioned th..t this work had been suppressed, in conse-
quence of his Majesty having, through Sir Herbert Tay-
lor, declined accepting the dedication of it, as he was
about to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the sub-
ject. We published the letters of Sir Herbert Taylor to
Captain White, which showed that the labours of the
Gallant Captain were most courteously received by his
Majesty, as also by the then Secretary at War, the Right
Hon. Mr. Herries. Captain White clearly proves that
the discontent and insubordination of the native Indian
army, so far back as 1834, had arrived at a very high
pitch, and he proves the causes to have proceeded from
gross neglect, and great injuries which from time to time
had been inflicted upon them. Their European Officers,
indeed, were in a state little better than bordering upon
revolt. This state of affairs with the European Officers
had chiefly arisen from the taking away of the half-battu—
a reduction in the pay of the officers—leaving them scarcely
enough to live upon, much less the means of ever saving
anything to enable them at a distant period to return to
their native country. The following quotation from the
work will set the point at rest as to whether the
murder of the officers proceeds, as it is asserted, from
the abolishment by Lord William Bentinck of flogging :
" Looking at the evidence given before the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons on the East India
Bill, it is lamentable in the extreme to learn therefrom the
dangerous and precarious state of the Indian army. A
variety of causes, no doubt, have combined to produce this
unfortunate state of affairs. Mr. Courtenay, in his evidence,
pays a very just and proper tribute to the Court of Di-
rectors, when he observes, It is extremely unfair to visit
upon the Court of Directors all the ofences against the
feelings or interests of the Indian army, of which complaints
have been made of late years ;' farther observing, for all
this the Board of Control are ultimately responsible. .
. They have acted in some particulars with, and others
without the approbation of the Court.' Sir Edward Paget
declares that . there is a great spirit of insubordination in
the army--a spirit of independence amongst the officers in.

consistent with military discipline, and which is by no means
subsiding, but, if possible, becoming worses' Captain Macan
formerly Persian interpreter so Lord gratings, says, We
find a spirit of inder entlerie incompatible with subordina-
tion. , ti . 'l'hey meet, form committees, appoint dale-
azit.S, subscribe funds, talk of rights infsingssd, compacts
broken,' bad faith." In this state of affairs,' Capt. Macan
remarks,' the only danger to our rule—and he considered it
to be tt ve'sy important one—is our native ermy, the disaf-
fection of which will be the raskst, no doubt, of our losing
our Eastern empire) as its fidelity is the means by which
we retain it; He then makes the astounding assertion
that ',lie bond of attachment between the native and
' asuropean officers is almost broken From my
own observation, and from what I have heard from the
best informed officers of the native battalions, I do not
think this attachment any longer exists, or if it does, it is
in a very feeble degree.' With this deplorable and painful
picture of the Indian army, Captain Macan concludes—
' In case of foreign invasion, artful and flattering overtures
from an enemy, and more particularly of a Mahomedan,
might he attended with very serious consequences, unless
efficient means are taken to renew the attachment which
formerly existed between the Sepoy and his officers.' How
this attachment is to be renewed, I cannot for the life of
me perceive. But I perfectly agree with Captain Macan
in the important observation he makes, when he says,
The fidelity of the troops is precarious ; and that by our
mismanagement, or by the artifices of designing persons,
they would turn against us those very arms which now con-
stitute our strength ;' and that the most frivolous causes
would be made the excuse for desertion to some particular
service.' "—Morning ildvei tiser.
It was confidently anticipated that the labours of the
Lords' Committee upon the Imprisonment for Debt Bill
having been brought to a close, the result would have
been known, and that the Bill, in the shape of a prac-
tical and unexceptionable measure, would be, by this time,
advancing through one or more of its subsequent stages.
We would fain hope, however, that the delay is unavoida-
ble, and will be only temporary, and that this subject will,
at least, form one exception to the inglorious exploits of
a do-nothing session. The interests of humanity, God
knows, owe little enough to the Whigs ; but as they
tacitly submit to the guidance of their opponents when
their own personal interests are not at stake, we trust
they may be induced to accept from the Conservative Peers
a measure so long called for by every claim of justice and
humanity. Inconsistent as it may seem, we should like to
see Parliament depriving the press of some part of the merits
and popularity attaching to the promotion of this important
object.—Morning Herald.
Good intentions have seldom been more signally defeated
in the result than in the case of the Duke of Wellington's
Beer Bill. The measure was, no doubt, meant by its
author to benefit the landowner and the labourer—the
one, by encouraging the growth and consumption of barley
—the other, by providing him with a wholesome beverage
to be consumed at home and shared with his family ; in-
stead of which the former finds himself more injured than
benefited by it in the mass of drunkenness, idleness, and
crime, which it has produced, while the latter finds the
pestilent beer shop, as now conducted, the prelude to a
prison or a workhouse. All this would have been pre-
vented had a little more care, knowledge, and foresight
b en used in the concoction and furtherance of the measure.
One essential, which we have often adverted to, should
have been a positive obligation, that any one opening a
house under the Act should have been competent to become
his own brewer, by having a plant constantly upon his pre-
mises large enough to brew, at least, five quarters of malt
at a time. If such had been the case, instead of the com-
mon brewer's poison, the labouring man and the wayfarer
would have been supplied with a wholesome beverage
by persons whose property and character would have been
a pledge for their conduct, instead of, as now, having every
town and village studded and polluted with " Tom and
Jerry shops," where the mind and the body are alike
drugged into vice and disease. Yet, while every year only
tends to confirm and increase this nuisance, not a single
step is taken to remove it. Had we only old women for
legislators, they could hardly talk snore and do less than
has been the case with three successive Parliaments. Yet
what would be more easy than to resort, now that the evil
is known, to the remedy which would have prevented it ;
that is, by enacting, in a short Bill, that no such house
shall be hereafter licensed, or any licenee heretofore granted
renewed, but upon the condition to which we have alluded ?
This would immediately sweep away a large proportion, at
least, of the objectionable places which now exist, even if it
failed to establish many others in their stead. At any rate,
if it be the duty of the Legislature to protect and reform,
not to contaminate the community, it is time that this de-
moralising system were no longer allowed to supply the
prison and the workhouse with inmates, who, but for it,
would be, for the most part, useful, because industrious,
members of society .—Morning Herald.
The questions put by Mr. Praed on Wednesday night in
the House of Commons to the Secretary of the India Board,
in the absence of the Right Hon. President, were of an im-
portance which we fear the British public are not prepared
adequately to appreciate. They were, first, whether the
Board had received any advices relative to the interference
of the East India Company's forces in regulating the succes-
sion to the Throne of the kingdom of Oude ? and second,
whether instructions had been sent out to the Governor-
General of India to take possession of that portion of the
Oude territory which former acquisitions of the Company
had still left under the dominion of its native Princes, and the
undisturbed occupation of which had been guaranteed to
to those Princes by solemn treaty ? To these questions
the Secretary, with the habitual reserve of official men, or,
perhaps, in obedience to the express instructions of his
principal, declined to give any answer. The reserve, we
must own, appears to us, in this instance, to have been
more complete than the strictest official prudence
would have required. What occasion could there be
to make a mystery of a matter already so notorious
to all the world as the interference of the military
forces of the British Government of India, not to settle,
but to disturb, the succession to the Oude Throne ? We
have brought the facts of this case of flagrant and iniquitous
aggression more than once under the notice of the readers
of this journal, and no particular of our statement has been
in the slightest degree impugned by any organ of the Go-
vernment. No one has ventured to call in question the
facts that the son of the late King of Oude, although re-
peatedly acknowledged in the most formal manner—al-
though acknowledged by an unbroken succession of British
authorities, from the moment of his birth—as the lawful
heir to the Oude Throne, had no sooner ascended it after
the demise of his father than he was forcibly dethroned by
the British Government in India. As little has any one
ventured to deny that, by the same power, a collateral rela-
tion of the late Kin.. was put in nominal possession of regal
authority, a man of the age of 92, having no child to suc-
ceed him after his death, or to corroborate and sustain his
authority while living, a Prince whose claim to the suc-
cession, so far from having even been acknowledged
by any British or other authority, had never been as-
serted or even heard of until it suited the purposes of
the British Government to place in his impotent hand
the sceptre wrested by military violence from that of the
lawful and acknowledged heir. Why do we lay so much
stress upon the antecedent and unequivocal recognition of
one of these rival Princes and the absence of any such
previous suffrage in the case of the other ? The reason is
obvious. It has long been a maxim in the policy of the
British Government of India, and experienced has demon-
strated that it is an honest and a wise one, to impart by its
express recognition to some individual of the family of each
of the native Princes of India, its allies or dependents, the
fixed and indelible character of successor to Sovereign
authority at the termination of the existing reign. This
was the most effectual means that could be devised
at once to transmit from Prince to Prince the full
consciousness of their duties and obligations towards the
British Government prescribed by treaty, and inherited
together with their Throne, and to prevent those sudden
outbreaks of rebellion and violent usurpations of authority
which have been found so frequently to follow the death of the
Sovereigns of every uncivilised or half-civilised people. The
conduct pursued by the Indian Government on the decease of
the late Kin.. of Oude is,therefore, to be regarded not merely
as an isolated act of tyranny and oppression—although in
this view it would be odious enough--s-but as the subversion
of a long-established, well-tried, and most beneficial system
of policy—not as affecting exclusively the State upon which
an usurper has now been forced by military power, but as
an example which unsettles or destroys all security in the
succession of the native Princes, whenever the influence of
the East India Company can reach and convert every In-
dian Throne into a prize to be contended for by means of
tumultuous and sanguinary violence on the spot, or by in-
trigues in anticipation of the death of the reigning Sove-
reign, carried on at Calcutta. For, such a deviation from
an established system of policy it will readily be conjec-
tured that there must have existed some stronger induce-
ment than a mere capricious preference of the great uncle
of the late King to the son of that Severeign, some motive
more cogent than mere reverence for old age, feebleness,
and imbecility. And this brings us to the consideration of the
second and the more important of the two questions put
to the subaltern official by the Hon. and Learned Member
for Aylesbury, viz., whether the Governor-General of India
has received instructions to take possession of the territo-
ries of the King of Oude. Surely a question like this
might have been met even by a subaltern official in the ab-
senceanTahneswneergahtia,vee
reply,been hgoivweenvetro,
wit
ocuolndsisntoetntilny
of his principal, by a direct and explicit negative,
could
with truth such
.
this instance have been consistent with truth. So much
we dare venture to affirm. We distinctly allege that there
is a dispatch—a secret one it was originally called,
but the secret has not been well kept—now in the pos-
session of Lord Auckland, requiring him, on the first