The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-26 00:00:00

EAST INDIA. HOUSE.

Yesterday a General Court of Proprietors was
held at the East India House by adjournment, from the I lth
inst. for the purpose of considering the propriety of an applica-
tion to Parliament for the repeal of so much of the Act of the
53d Geo. 111. cap. 155, as prohibits the Court of Directors from
sending to India in the capacity of a Writer any person who
shall not have resided four terms at the Haileybury College.
[Of the proceedings of the Court we are debarred from giving
more than a sketch on the present occasion by the following
circumstance :—The Reporters for the daily papers on present-
ing themselves at an early hour at the usual door for admis-
sion into the gallery of the Court, were severally informed by a
Clerk who was stationed there, that he had been ordered not to al-
low any person who was not a Proprietor of India Stock to enter.
When acquainted with the precise nature of their business and
object of their attendance, he answered that he was well aware of
' the circumstance, as also of the fact of their being generally ad-
mitted ; " but," said he, " what am I to do, my orders being
expressly to exclude all but Proprietors." It was not, therefore,
until the Court and gallery became nearly filled with Proprietors,
and the crowd of strangers accumulated outside the door caused
a pressure too strong for the efforts of the door-keepers to resist,
that they were enabled to make way into the gallery, where
another difficulty was interposed to the due execution of the task
assigned them. In making their way towards that part of the
Court where they had on all former occasions been allowed to
sit, they encountered another person_stationed at the wicket
leading from the gallery into the Court, who also stated that he
had received express and positive orders to allow none but Pro-
prietors to pass through. They were therefore compelled to
remain in one corner of the gallery, amidst the inconveni-
ences of the pressure of the crowd and a want cf light and
space, which rendered it next to impossible to take notes of the
proceedings.]
At twelve o'clock precisely, the Chairman, accompanied by
most of the Directors, entered the Court, and proceeded to their 1
stations within the bar.

The CHAIRMAN then opened the business of the day, by
reading the notice by which the Court had been called.
HAILE YBURY COLLEGE.
Mr. D. Kir/NAIR]) then rose, and proceeded to call the at-
tention of the Proprittors to the state of the College at Halley-
bury, and the nature of the statues by which it was governed.
So far back as the year 1817, he said there were half a dozen
students expelled from the College, and in consequence of the
sensation excited by that circumstance an inquiry took place,
but nothing effective was done towards remedying the evil
which was then found to exist. The Hon. Gentleman entered
at considerable length into the history of the Institution, and
observed that there was an inherent evil in its present constitu-
tion, which might easily be traced to that clause in the Act of
53 Geo. 111. which enacted that no person should be allowed to
go out to India as a Writer, who had not resided 4 terms at
Haileybury College. Another principle of evilin the Institution
was, that it was not in the power of the Profeisors to remove a
boy without a sentence of expulsion • so that no matter what the
conduct or disposition of a boy might be, or how much soever
he might feel averse from theprofession for which he was there
to be brought up, after he was once admitted, he must remain
on the books of the establishment until he violated some one or
other of the statutes, when he would be,e,xpelled, and his future
prospects in life destroyed. The Hon. Member here read seve-
ral extracts from Professor Malthus's Letter, in which the evils
in the constitution of the College were pointed out, and it was
recommended that the sole power and controul of the manage-
ment of the boys should be transferred from the Court of
Directors into the hands of the Professors. In saying that the
'College had exhibited no amendment in consequence of that
change, he did not mean to charge any fault upon the Pro-
fessors, because they were deprived of that power and in-
fluence over their pupils, which was exercised by the Pro-
fessors and Tutors in other Colleges. He asked why mote
roads should not be opened to education for the young men
destined for the civil service of the company in India ?
Why should not a parent who designed to place his son in that
service be allowed to educate him where he pleased, and then
to present him as a candidate for an appointment, subject to
some certain test as to his qualifications for that appointment ?
Why, for instance,_ might he not be required to undergo a pub-
lie examination by competent persons appointed by the Court
of Directors, and approved of by the Board of Controul, from
whom he should be obliged to produce a certificate of his being
duly qualified ? The good effects of•such an examination, he
said, were strikingly exemplified in the Charter-house School,
where it had been introduced by the present head master, Dr.
Russell, and had raised that school in reputation above all the
other public schools in the kingdom. This question was one of
the most important nature to the interests of the Company,
and he felt that it certainly was one for the discussion of
which that Court was not the -fittest and most desirable
place. It was one, however, on which the, minds of the Pro-
prietors were strongly moved, and in bringing it forward for
agitation there he acted from the conviction that it ought to
be put at rest at once. The most gracious way of doing so
would be for the Court of Directors to take, it up, and insti-
tute an inquiry into the subject, with a view of ascertaining
what means would be most likely to effect the removal of, the
evil, which seemed to be very generally allowed to exist. He
concluded by moving—" That application be made to Parlia-
ment in the present Session for the Repeal of the 46th Clause
of the Act of the 63d Geo. 111. cap. 155, by which the Court
of Directors is prohibited from sending to. India in the capa-
city of a Writer any person who shall not have resided during
four terms at the Haileybury College; and to enact that it
shall not be lawful for the Court of Directors to send to India,
in the capacity of a Writer, any• person who'shall not have un-
dergone a public examination by such persons, and under such
regulations as the Court of Directors, with the approbation of
the Board of Controul, may from time to time appoint,
and who shall not produce a certificate 'of his having under-
gone such examination, and been found duly qualified for an
appointment."

The CHAIRMAN said he was induced .to rise thus early, in
consequence of the appeal which the Hon. Proprietor had made
to the Court of Directors, and the opinion whieh he had ex-
pressed that that Court was not the fittest place for the discus-
sion of this question. He was glad to hear that admisihin from
the Hon. Gentleman. It had long been his own opinion ; and
it Was his intention, before he left the Chair, to take steps for
a thorough investigation of the subject. had indeed intend-
ed to do it before, btit bad been prevented by the constant re-

vival of the question by notices given by the Hon. Member from
time to time of his intention to bring it before that Court. lie
hoped, therefore, the Hon. Gentleman would consent to with-
draw his motion, and leave the subject in the hands of that
authority by which he himself admitted it could be most conve-
niently dealt with—lie meant the Court of Directors.
Mr. D. KINNAIRD said he was quite disposed to accede to
the proposition of the Chairman, if it were to be distinctly un-
derstood that the Court of Directors, after a due consideration
of the subject, might feel disposed to accede to the measure pro-
posed in his resolution, or to something like it, and equally cal-
culated to remove the inconveniences of the existing state of the
Institution. But if there were no hope that something would
be proposed by the Court of Directors which might lead to that
end, lie much doubted whether any advantage could be derived
from postponing the agitation ttf the question.
Mr. HL sex suggested, that instead of withdrawing the mo-
tion altogether, which might seem to those who had persevered
in bringing forward this question year,after year; from a con-
viction that there was no hope of amendment from any steps
that might be taken by the Court of Directors in the matter,
to have too much the appearance' of giving up their former
opinions, the following words should be prefixed to the Reso-
lution, viz. " That it be referred to the Court of Directors to
consider whether application should be made to Parliament,"
&c. This alteration, which might either be put as an amend-
ment, or adopted as part of the Resolution, would, he thought,
not compromise either party, as it would not tie up the hands
of the Directors as to any course of inquiry they might think
proper to pursue.

The CHAIRMAN said he could not undertake to hold out
any specific promise or hope such as the lion. Mover seemed
to exact.

Mr. D. KINYAIRD said, when he expressed his disposition
to accede to the request of the Chairman to withdraw his mo-
tion, he certainly did suppose that what had fallen from the
Chair implied some hope of this or some equally effective
course for the correction of the evil being taken. That hope
being withdrawn, he could not consent to recal his motion.
Mr. R. Jacxsos said, what had just passed would operate
as a caution to him against giving way in future too readily to
sensations of extraordinary pleasure ; for such had been the
sensations excited in him by the proposition of the Chairman,
which seemed like a holding out of the olive branch between
the contending parties on tiiis occasion. He had regarded it as
indicating a willingness on the part of the Court of Directors to
concede, if not the whole question of the inquiry into the whole
of the past details and history of the Institution, at least an in-
quiry into one part, namely, that which regarded the power of
the parents to remove their children- from the College, or to
send them elsewhere to be educated in the first instance, with-
out prejudice to their claims as Candidates for appointments in
the Civil Service of the Company in India. In that, however,
he was disappointed, and there seemed to be no alternative but
to let the discussion proceed.
The C.natitmari said, he believed the discussion must be
allowed to go on.
Mr. CARUETHERS opposed the motion. The arguments of
the Hon. Hover were inconclusive, and by no means new, be-
rot, refusedarltibefore
by
noone
ibnyg
persons precisely
more powerfully than by their late lamented Director, Mr.
Grant, who said " If the Institution at Hertford were as
m sides e which
h oif e h
the h abda rso
o f often
thatCboeue
ins-
maculate as the utmost perfection of human wisdom could pos-
sibly make it, it would be impossible for it to withstand the
constant repetition of such attacks as were made upon it."
Mr. POYNDER opposed the motion, and in a speech of con-
siderable length defended the Institution, of the history of which
he gave a complete sketch, from its foundation to the present
period.
Mr. RIGBY thought it a question well deserving of consi-
deration, whether it would not be better for the interests of the
Company that candidates for appointments should be allowed
to avail themselves of the other Sources which were open to
them for obtaining such an education as might qualify them
for holding such appointments, than to continue to restrict
them to this one institution. ile hoped, however, that the
suggestion would be adopted of leaving the subject to the eon-
sideration of the Court of Directors.

Mr. WEEDING thought the restriction ought to be removed,
and that much advantage might be derived from such an al-
teration in the plan of the Institution, as would assimilate it
more nearly to the public schools. would have the boys
admitted at an earlier age, and
allowed to remain until they
were eighteen years old, if their parents thought proper. He
would add also to the Oriental Masters a Malay and Chinese
Professor. The number of students might also be increased;
and after they hod attained a sufficient pioficiency in
de
Per-
aian and Flindoostanee languag,?3, they might be allowed to go
to either of the Universities ta nnish their course, and then re-
turn to undergo the test of a Public exanaination as to their qualifications in every branch of learning requisite for the pro-
per discharge of those offices they might be afterwards called
upon to fill.
Mr. TWININIII said he could not see the necessity for the in-
novation which it was proposed to make on a rule that had been
established upon very mature consideration. He should fear
the adoption of this motion would lead to the entire destruction
of the
dominion Colleofgthe, e
Co or pmpany.robabl to the severing of India from the
y
Mr. S. Dixosr thought it a decided objection to the existing
constitution of the College of Haileybury, that it excluded from
the in India all talent and qualification,
how servicegreat
they might be, that were derived from an edu-
cation in any other part of the empire.
Mr. CHALMERS hoped the motion would be adopted without
hesitation.
Mr. ImpEv said he hoped that whatever the decision on this
question at present might be, It would be the last time it would
be brought under discussion in that place. In 1817 a similar
motion had been brought forward, which he then opposed on
the same grounds as he should the present—viz. first, that an
extensive, systematic, and liberal education was necessary to
qualify young men to discharge the duties of the high and im-
portant offices which they might be called upon to fill in the
civil service of the company in India; secondly, that before the
establishment of the College at Haileybury, while they trusted
to a fortuitous course of education, the civil servants of the Com-
pany were notoriously deficient in the necessary attainments,
and inadequate to the performance of the high functions which
they had to discharge; and thirdly, that the Institution had
been found to answer the purposes for which it was found-
ed. He supported his argument by lengthened quotations
from letters and speeches of Lord NVellesley, on the state
of the civil service in India before the foundation of the Col-
lege; and of Mr. Edinonstone and Lord Tinto, on the im-
proved condition of that service since its establishment. He
deprecated above all things any application to Parliament on
the subject. They all knew that the Company had many se-
cret enemies who were always on the watch, and anxious to
seize hold of every pretext to attack their privileges. One
Statesman of some consideration had asserted that the Company
ought to be stripped, entirely of its power and possessions ; and
if they went with a petition to Parliament on this subject, who
could say what might be the effect, or where it would end ? He
apprehended that it the Court had a due sense of its own inte-
rests, and of the interests of this country and of India, it would
give a direct negative to the motion ; for in his opinion its adop-
tion would amount almost to a suicidal act.
Mr. OAHAGA% supported the motion.
Mr. It. Jacxsow supported the motion.
At a quarter after five o'clock Mr. ImPkv- suggested the
propriety, as he knew that several Gentlemen were anxious to
speak upon the question, of adjourning the debate to Friday
next (to-morrow).
Mr. THANT seconded the motion for adjournment.
The question, on a chew of hands, was declared by the Chair-
man to be carried in the affirmative.
A division was then called for, and the numbers were re-
ported :

Ayes -
Noes
The Court was then adjourned till Friday.

62
32-30

A new Bill relative to the management of
Gaols has been brought forward by Mr. PEEL.—
,The following is the clause respecting compulsory
labour before trial :—" And whereas doubts have
arisen whether, by the said recited act, prisoners
before trial can be compelled against their will to
labour on the treadmill, and it is expedient to
remove such doubts, be it further enacted and
declared, that it is-not and shall not be lawful to
compel any untried primer to such labour
against his will,"

PARLI A ME NT,

lIOUSE OF LORDS, Fula. t 5.

Mr. SPICER, from Chelsea Hospital, presented an accoun
of the Unclaimed Army Prize-Money.
On the motion of the Earl of SHAFTESBURY, the Mar•
riage Act Amendment Bill was read a second time.