The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-15 00:00:00

MR. BUCKINGHAM.

A public meeting took place this day at Freemasons' Hall,
Great Queen-street, to take into consideration the propriety
of entering into a subscription to compensate Mr. Buckingham
for the losses which he had sustained by the suppression of his
Journal in India. On the platform we observed Lord W.
Bentinck, late Governor General of India; Lord Dudley
Stewart, M. P., Mr. Hume, M. P., Mr. O'Connell, M. P.,
Mr. Tulke, M.P., Mr. Poulter, M. P., Colonel Thompson,
M. P., Mr. Otway Cave, M. P., ,
Mr. Lister, M.P. Mr.
Gaskell, M. P., Mr. Hindley, M. V., Mr. Curteis, M. P.,
Mr. Bridgeman, M.P., Mr. Wyse, M. P, Mr. Rundle, M.P.,
the Hon. Leicester Stanhope, Sir C. Forbes, Sir H. Strachan,

&c. &c. There were several ladies also present
Lord W. BENTINCK, on taking the chair. said'that it would
be unnecessary for him to trouble the meeting with any of the
details of Mr. Buckingham's case, but he felt it his duty to
state what he knew from his personal experience to be the
feeling of the people of India in reference to this subject. He
(Lord W. Bentinck) arrived in Calcutta some years after the
occurrence took place, and even at the time when it might be
supposed that all public feeling haisubsided, he could state
that a deep sense of the injtritice which bad been
inflicted on Mr. Buckingham pervaded the public
mind—the very great majority of the people being of
opinion that his case was one of great and unexampled hard-
ship.—( Hear, hear.) In bearing testimony to these facts,
he (Lord, W. B.) was solely influenced by a desire of render-
ing justice to Mr. Buckingham, with whom he had hut been re-
cently acquainted. An, appeal had been made elsewhere on
his behalf, which he deeply regretted had not been attended
with success. He therefore trusted the public would now do
that justice to Mr. Buckingham which the House of Commons
had refused. —( Cheers.)
Mr. HUNIE said it was now thirteen years since he, as a pro-
prietor of East India Stock, felt it his duty to represent
the case cf Mr. Buckingham to the Board of East
India Directors. But the great majority of that tribunal
entertaining peculiar views with respect to the liberty of the
p. ess, rejected the applicator, with but one dissentient voice.
Having failed in obtaining justice in this quarter he (Mr.
Hume) and other friends assisted Mr. Buckingham in bringing
his case under the Loasideration of the King in Council, but
here again he failed in obtaining justice. The Governor-
General possessed under the law a discretionary power, and
upon this ground the Privy-Council decided against Mr.
Buckingham. The case was then brought under the consi-
deration of the House of Co:nmons, and two Committees
of which he (Mr. Hume) was a member, unanimously
decided that an act of gross injustice had been in-
flicted on Mr. Buckingham, and that he was entitled
to compensation for the destruction of hia property.—( Hear,
hear.) The House of Commons, however, he regretted to
say, had not acted in conformity with the opinion of the Com-
mittee, and Mr. Buckingham's claims were disregarded. Un-
der these circumstances there was now no other course but an
appeal to the public, and from what he (Mr. Hume) knew of
the people of England, he had no doubt but that appeal would
be promptly and liberally responded to, and that Mr. Buck-
ingham would not in his old age be allowed to suffer unre-
dressed the losses which he bad sustained. The Hon. Mem-
ber concluded by moving the following resolution.
Mr. CVItTEIS was not fond of attending meetings out of the
district he represented, but he felt sincere pleasure in second-
ing this resolution, because he had been long- convinced that
Mr. Buckingham had been most harshly and unjustly treated.
Nothing could have been more complimentary to Mr. Buck-
hgharn than the manner in which he had been spoken of in
the House of Commons the other night. All hhcl agreed
that nothing could have been more mild or gentlemanly than
the conduct of the Hon. Gentleman. This could not be
viewed as a party question ; for did they not see on the plat-
form an Hon. and Venerable Baronet, from whose politics he
had the misfortune to differ, supporting the oppressed, putting
party views aside, and coming forward to show that he sym-
pathised with one who he thought had been unjustly oppressed.
And it did infinite honour and credit to their Noble Chairman
who had showed to them that his exalted rank did not pre-
clude hint from sympathising with one of inferior rank,. %/horn
he also thought had been oppressed.—( Cheers.) He hoped
that meeting would cause the subject to be taken up through-
out the metropolis, and that an enthusiasm would be created
throughout the metropolis in favour of Mr. Buckingham. He
was not unwilling, as he had stated in the House of Commons,
to set a precedent for allowing a subject who had been pp-
pressed by a law which ought never to have existed to appeal
to the highest tribunal of the country ; and although he pro-
fessed himself as great an economist as his Hon. Friend (Mr.
Hume) who had just spoken, he should not have hesitated in
voting 10,000/. to Mr. Buckingham from the public revenues
cf the country.—( Hear, hear.) He apologised for' having
trespassed thus long upon the meeting ; but he believed, in
his conscience, that the case of Mr. Buckingham was one well
worthy of their consideration.—( Cheers. )
The Resolution was then put fronethe Chair, and carried

unanimously.
Mr. TULK, M. P., rose to propose the next Resolution.
The most distinguished man in the empire had expressed their
opinion, that great injustice had been done to Mr. Buckingham
in sending him from India without a trial, to the utter destruc-
tion of his property.—( Here the Hon. Gentleman was inter-
rupted by an immense burst of applause, occasioned by the
entrance of Mr. O'Connell.) Mr. Buckingham, while re-
siding in India, was subject to the laws oflthis country ;
and if he offended against those laws, he was liable to
be sent out of the country ; but for which the India
Government would be liable to this country. The power given
to the India Government was arbitrary and tyranical, and
nothing but emergency would justify the exercise of that
power. But in Mr. Buckingham's case there was no such
emergency. If Mr. Buckingham had been guilty of a libel
he ought to have been tried, and if convicted, punished. It
might be said there was an emergency which justified the Go-
vernment in sending him from the country ; but, so far from
that being the case, it was well known the supposed libel was
approved of substantially by the East India Company in this
country; and Dr. Bright, whom Mr. Buckingham was said to
have libelled, by stating his office was incompatible with his
sacred duties (for that was all that Mr. Buckingham com-
plained of), was after wards dismissed from his situation or ap-
pointment.—(Hear, hear.) No emergency, in his opinion,
could justify the Government of India in so shamefully send-
ing Mr. Buckingham away from his property, to his utter ruin.
It was obvious that the next step which Mr. Bucking..
ham should take was to appeal to the authority of the East
India Company in England, as he could obtain no re-
dress from the legal tribunals in India.—(Hear.) He
had been referred by that Company to Parliament and to the
House of Commons. Mr. Buckingham appealed in the year
1826. A Committee was appointed, of which he (Mr. Tulk)
had the honour to be a member ; that Committee sat for many
days successively, and there was no doubt that it would have
come to the same decision as a Committee afterwards did in
1834, namely, that the East India Company, in sending Mr.
Buckingham away, had done a grievous injustice to him.
That Committee was suddenly broken off, but another Com-
mittee did certainly Bucking-
ham come to the resolution that Mr.
had just claims upon the East India Company, and leaving
it to that Company to determine the amount of the compen-
sation. Application was accordingly made and refused, and
it was not until he had been twice refused that Mr. Bucking-
ham's friends again brought his case before Parliament once
more. A Bill was then introduced to give him some com-
pensation, and with respect to this Bill a great deal of mis-
understanding was abroad—it was supposed that it was in-
tended to compensate Mr. Buckingham to the full amount of
his losses, which were at least 40,0001. Mr. Buckingham had
no hope of obtaining more than one-fourth of that sum.—
The Bill was again introduced during the present year, but by
some unaccountable change in the sentiments of gentlemen who
had on all occasions supported Mr. Buckingham, the question
was lost. Under these circumstances Mr. Buckingham had
no other alternative but to throw himself upon his country for
that redress which bad been refused in other quarters,.—
(Cheers.) The resolution which he held in his hand ex-
pressed what the sentiments of Lord Denman and Lord
Abinger were upon the hardship andillegality of the pro-
ceedings against Mr. Buckingham, and the same sentiments
had been expressed by Mr. Cutlar Fergusson, Mr. O'Connell,
and other eminent individuals.—(Cheers.) It was, there-
fore, quite obvious that, although the East India Company
had the power to send away any persons who attempted to in-
terfere with their monopoly, they had no right to make it an
instrument of oppressing such individuals as offended them,—
( Cheers.) He had the honour of submitting the resolution
to the consideration of the meeting.—( Hear.)
Mr. P 0 ULTE R had much pleasure in seconding the reso-
lution which was proposed by his Hon. Friend. When they
saw the Hon. Bart., Sir C. Forbes present, opposed as he was
, they must be
to all the political opinions of Mr. Buckingham