The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-01 00:00:00

SEPTEMBER 1, 1848.

IMPJERIAL PA RLIAMENT.

HOUSE Off'
to-day
-daLyo 'DS, August AdutegrustF3olur o'clock,.
ROYAL . .SSENT.
The House
in order to give the Royal. Assent to the following
fifty•eight public and privet e Bills:
Public Health Bill.
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 13 ;ill.
Churches Bill.
Parliamentary Electors Bill.
Money Order Department P ost-office Bill.
Criminal Law Administratig n Amendment Bill.
Borough Incorporation Bill.
Steam Navigation Bill.
Bankrupts Release, Bill.
Loan Societies Bill.
Poor-law Union District Sell ools Bill.
Parochial Debt and Audit Bil 1.
Payment of Debts out of Rea 1 Estate Bill.
Turnpike Acts Continuance Jill.
Militia Pay Bill.
Militia Ballots Suspension Bil 1.
Out. Pensioners Bill. ,
Proclamation on Fines (Court of Common Pleas) Bill.
Petty Bag, &0., Offices (Court of Chancery) Bill.
Insolvent Debtors' Court Bill.
Stock-in-Trade Exemption Bit
Assessionable Manors Commissioners (Duchies of
Cornwall and Lancaster) Bi 11.
Highway Rates Bill.
Wolverhampton Curacy (No. `4 !) Bill.
Unlawful. Oaths Acts (Irelai id) Continuance and
Amendment Bill.
Ecclesiatical Patronage Suite 'Compromise (Ireland;
Bill.
Tithe Rent Charge (Ireland—)go. 2) Bill.
Constabulary Force (Ireland)
Corn Markets (Ireland) Bill.
Fisheries (Ireland) Bill.
Trustees Relief (Ireland) Bill-
Turnpike Roads (Ireland) Bill.
Court of Justiciary (Scotland) :Bill.
Register of Sasines (Scotland) Bill.
Farmer's Estate Society (Ireland) Bill.
Dundee and Perth Railway (L ease of Dundee and
Arbroath Railway) Bill.
Paisley, Barrhead, and Hurlet Hallway Bill.
Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, and Midland Junction
Railway Deviation and Branches Bill.
Exeter and Exmouth Railway Acts Amendment Bill.
Great Western Railway (Loop Line from Birming-
ham and Oxford Junction Railway through Lea-
mington) Bill.
Great Western Railway (Birmingham and Oxford
Junction and Railway Purchase) Bill.
Edinburgh and Glasgow and Edinburgh and Bath
gate Railway Companies Amalgamation Bill.
Walsall Improvement Bill.
Clerkenwell Improvement Bill.
London City Small Debts Bill.
Sandbach Charity Estate Bill.
Duke of Bridgewater's Estate Bill.
Greenlaw's or Woolwich Glebe Land Estate Bill.
liarnsden's Estate Bill.
Weld Blundell's Estate Bill.
Earl of Sheffield's Estate Bill.
Marquis of Londonderry's Estate (No. 1) Bill.
Marquis of Londonderry's Estate (No. 2) Bill.
Fawcett (or Alderson's) Estate Bill.
Marquis of Bute's Estate Bill.
Virgin Mary Hospital (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Estate
Bill.
Lugard's Divorce Bill.
Jervis's Divorce Bill.
The Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Campbell, and the Earl of Shaftesbury.
Their Lordships then adjourned during pleasure.

The Loan CHANCELLOR took his seat on the
Woolsack at Five o'clock.

POSTAGE OF NEWSPAPERS (CHANNEL
ISLANDS) BILL.
On the motion of the Marquis of CLANRI-
CARDE, this Bill was read a second time.

Such a tribunal would have found no difficulty in
determining every point on which there has been a
difference of opinion; nor any difficulty in reporting
to the House the course which justice and good
faith require should be taken.—(Hear.) Such an
investigation would have been of the highest
importance, not only as tending to the just settle-
ment of this particular question, but as contributing
to the knowledge, so much needed, of the manner in
which our vast possessions in India are ruled, and
the treaties which have been concluded with native
states are observed. Since this question was first
brought forward by my Hon. Friend the Member for
Montrose until the present time the only request
ever preferred has been, that the subject should be
taken out of the arena oiparty conflict in this House,
and be submitted to a Committee, to be decided ac-
cording to the nature and value of the evidence pro-
duced. As far as the character of the late Raja is
concerned, and the fate of his family and subjects is
affected by the opinions entertained of his guilt, I
am prepared to demonstrate his entire and absolute
innocence, by the exposure of the falsehood and
worthlessness of every particle of the evidence col-
lected to criminate him. The assertion, that "every
opportunity was afforded to the Raja of defending
himself from the charges brought against him," is
contradicted most flatly by the official documents
which have been laid upon the table of this House.
In the case of the first charge, the Raja heard the
depositions of two of the witnesses read to him
in the Hindustanee language, 'hut never was
permitted to see a copy of the depositions
in the Mahrattas, and consequently never had
the slightest chance afforded him of rebutting
the testimony given against him.—(Hear.) This was
in 1836. Of the other charges he never heard a
word until the 23d of August, 1839, when he was
called upon to sign the paper submitted to him by
Sir James Carnac, the Governor of Bombay, and
for refusing to do so, was dethroned eleven days
afterwards. Now, Sir, if the friends of the late
Raja in this country have been able by an examina-
tion of the ex parte evidence, to unravel every part
of the conspiracy against his Highness, and to prove
the charges against him to be utterly false, how
much more would the accused himself have been
able most triumphantly to vindicate his character and
conduct, if there had been an observance of the
simplest rules of justice, by placing the evidence
taken against him in his hands. Sir, a memorial
sent by the late Raja to Lord Hardinge, the Gover-
nor-General in 1844, and for four years kept back
by the Indian authorities, has been described as a
" preposterous humbug," because it was drawn up
by a gentleman in this country, and sent to his
Highness at Benares. For the truth of the contents
of that document (which has at last been brought
to light and laid before the House), I hold myself
responsible.—(Hear.) Sir, it was not until
1843 that the mass of secret papers in this case were
ordered to be printed. It was not until the spring of
1844 that they were published, and they could only
then be of service to the Raja, by being examined
by a person who could read them in the English, and
was competent to analyse their contents. I devoted
myself to the study of those papers, and drew up such
a statement of the facts of the case as I thought would,
if placed in the hands of his Lordship the Governor-
General, convince him that justice had not been done
to the Raja of Sattara. His Highness approved of
my statement, and sent it through the hands of
the official agent to the Governor-General. That
document has been denounced as " a humbug," but,
Sir, it has never been answered. It has been de-
nounced as a " humbug," but no single fact which
it sets forth has been questioned. It has been de-
nounced as "a humbug," but by those who dare not
meet me either here or elsewhere to debate its accu-
racy. I challenge the whole of the Miirieterial
bench to show that there is a statement in it ,which
is contrary to truth. It is to this document that the
agent of the Governor-General (Major Carpenter)
refers, in the following extract, from a dispatch in the
Secret department, addressed to the Governor-
General :
" When the Raja was consigned to my charge,
early in 1840, I considered it necessary, for the effi-
cient discharge of my duties, to make Nyself fully
acquainted with the causes of his dethronement, his
general reputation for intrigue, and other circum-
stances connected with his character and conduct, to
enable me to form a just estimate of the man with
whom I had to deal, and to guard against the conse-
quences which might arise from any laxity of sur-
veillance on my part. To this end I carefully studied
the whole of the ,voluminous documents connected
with his case, and the result was, a belief in his inno •
cence ; and this belief has been confirmed, beyond :a
doubt, by subsequent disclosures, and by his pledging
himself to prove it, if permitted to do so, in his letter
to Sir Henry Hardinge, of the 12th December,
1844, forwarded through me, and which pledge 1- am
fully persuaded lie is able to redeem."—(Hear.)
Had the prayer of that memorial been granted, I
believe the Raja would have been alive at this time,
and sitting upon the throne of Sattara. But, Sir, the
deposal of the Raja was not the only act of injustice
which was done. He was also stripped of his private
property, and this brings me to a part of the subject
connected with the present circumstances of the sur-
viving family. The Raja, though denied the op-
portunity of proving his innocence, was called upon
to sign a paper admitting his guilt. It has been
stated, that all his Highness was required to do was
to renew the treaty of 1819. This assertion is en-
tirely at variance with the official papers. The articles
submitted were perfectly new. The Hon. Baronet
shakes his heed. Well, I will quote from an Hon.
Director, Mr. Shepherd, who has in his Minute of Dis-
sent truly observed, that " The preamble of the con-
ditions which his Highness was called upon to sign
entangled him in an admission of guilt ; it also in-
volved the Government in the glaring inconsistency
of propounding a principle, which required the
strongest proofs of the Raja's unworthiness to reign,
as a necessary condition on which he was to continue
on the guddee. Who will deny that his rejection of
the proposal furnishes presumptive evidence of his
innocence, and raises him more in the estimation of
the world, than if he had ignominiously complied for
the sake of retaining his sovereignty ?" This rejec-
tion of the article and preambles submitted by Sir
James Carnac led to the determination on the part of
the Bombay Government to dethrone the Raja, and
accordingly, orders to that effect were sent to the Re-
sident on the 30th of August, 1839. These instruc-
tions were from the pen of the Governor, and bore
his signature. I entreat the attention of the House to
the eighth paragraph of this letter :
" 8. You will be careful to provide, in the most
effectual manner, for the personal comfort and con-
venience of the Raja and his family, and to require
the Sattara Government to furnish everything that
may be necessary for their accommodation. He is,
in fact, to be regarded and treated as an object of
sympathy, and not of punislpment. You will inform
him that he will be permitted to reside within the
Hon. Company's territories, at such place as may be
selected by the Right Hon. the Governor-General of
India, and that an annual allowance will be assigned
from the Sattara revenues for the support and respect-
ability of himself, and those members of his family
who may choose to accompany him. Further, that
all property belonging to him, bona fide private, and not
appertaining to the state, will, on his peaceable submis-
sion, not be interfered with."
In this paragraph two things are distinctly and
solemnly guaranteed; firstly, an annual allowance for
the support of ths. Raja and his family ; and secondly,
the retention of all property not appertaining to the
State. The condition on which the second pledge
was given was strictly observed by the Raja.
Not
only did the Raja not offer any resistance, but he
adopted the most effectual means of preventing any dis-
turbance or conflict.—(Hear.) For a time it appeared
ed
to be the intention of the Government to redeem
Raja,
pledge respecting the private property, for
while encamped a short distance from Sattara, re-
ceived three official notes from the Resident, Colonel
Ovens, in conformity with that pledge. I will read
wh' h
a brief extract from one of these notes, w is
dated the 13th of September:—
" With reference to your
tHhaighness's private
twill be at your own
pro-
perty, I beg to obser
disposal, as distinguished from v
e
,
from the public property of
the state—namely, jewellery, robes, dresses, o-c.,
money, furniture, plate, and
other necessaries which
your Highness may require. On your Highness in-
timating the same, I will order the articles to be scat
to you.'
In order that no doubt may exist respecting the
authenticity of these documents, I will quote an ex-
tract from a dispatch written by Major Carpenter at
Benares to Sir T. Maddock, the Secretary to the
Supreme Government, Nov. 15, 1840. Major Car-
penter says—
" Par. 8. The ex-Raja has in his possession three
letters, signed by Colonel Ovens, the Resident at
Sattara, and dated the sth, 6th, and 13th of Sep-
tember, 1839, respectively, to the effect that his
private property would be surrendered to him ; and
suggesting that lists of such portions thereof as he
wished to take away, as well as of those articles he
desired to leave in his palace, might be furnished,
that which properly belonged to the State being
retained."
Major Carpenter then adds, in the next paragraph—

" 32. My instructions to the Resident enjoin, that
every effort should be made to obviate collision, but
that should such unhappily occur, that every precau-
tion should be taken to prevent injury to the well-
disposed, and to guard against irregularities on the
part of our troops. They likewise enjoin that every
attention be paid to the personal comfort and conve-
nience of the Raja and his family, and secure to him
his private property and a suitable maintenance for
his future support. The question of his future dis-
posal is left for consideration hereafter. I have every
confidence in Lieutenant-Colonel Ovens' judgment
and discretion, that he will seeiure that these instruc-
tions are scrupulously attended tc."
I am satisfied that no Member of this House, having
these official documents before him, would conceive
it possible that the Government of Bombay would
afterwards confiscate the whole of the'Raja's property,
and leave him without a shilling beyond the allowance
fixed for his maintenance.—(Hear.) Yet, in !a
dispatch to the Supreme Government, dated the 25th
of November (eighty-six (lays after the pledge ®f Sir
James Carnac), we find the determination expressed
by the Council of Bombay, to considei the whole of
the private property of the ex-Raja forfeited, and the
pension as satisfaction in full of all demands. `,.-
fact that the Raja of Sattara was possessed of a irry '
large amount of private property is not disputed.
The Resident, Colonel Ovens, while under the im-
pression that the pledge of the British Governor
would be redeemed, described in his dispatches the
manner in which the ex-Raja had become possessed
of his large wealth, namely, by appropriating a stated
sum for the private expenses of himself and his
family, and then laying aside the balance, whieb he
either allowed to accumulate, or expended in jewels.
Every previous Resident at the Raja's. Court is able
to confirm the truth of this statement, and to prove
that so scrupulously and accurately were the public
accounts separated from the private, and the pro-
perty belonging to the State distinguished from that
which was personal, that no difficulty at any time
existed in the way of accounting to the Raja for
that which was bond fide his own. The following is
the view taken of this transaction by a member of
the court of directors, Mr. Shepherd :
" There can be no question but that the treasure
and jewels found in the palace were the fruits of the
economical management of the Raja's resources. Un-
like the generality of native princes, he had governed
his people with prudence and moderation, and re-
strained his own expenses within the limits of his in-
come. The Bombay Government decided, however,
that the property should be made over to the present
Raja, and that the ex-Raja be informed that the
pension is assigned to himself and his family in satis-
faction of all demands whatever on the Government of
Sattara. Such is likely to be the climax of the unhappy
Raja's fate. A prince who had been for many ears,
and up to a very late period, the des&eing
object of the Court's and the Government's
highest favour and admiration, stripped of his raj
and his property, he is now the degraded pensioner
of that brother who assisted in his overthrow.
To me, it appears that the confiscation and transfer
of his property to the present Raja is an additional
penalty inflicted on this unfortunate Prince, not
warranted by any considerations whatever. Indeed,
in the absence of a professional opinion, I must con-
tend that the act is illegal ; the regulations of our
Government guaranteeing to all our subjects the free
possession of the property held by them until they
shall be deprived of it by the judgment of a court of
competent jurisdiction. If I lamented the extreme
measure of his deposal, more deeply do I lament this
aggravated severity. It is the great prerogative of
the home authorities to hold the balance of justice
between our local governments and the natives of
India. Removed far from the scene of action, they
can review, with dispassionate calmness, every turn
and movement of the actors; and whilst they are
bound to afford every proper support to their own
servants, it is equally their sacred duty to protect
their native subjects, and to withhold their sanction
from acts of oppression and injustice."
Mr. Tucker, Sir C. Forbes, Mr. Cotton, General
Robertson, Colonel Sykes—all took the same
view of that question. Sir, on the arrival of
the Raja at his place of exile, he called upon
the Governor-General's agent to take an inventory
of the articles he had brought with him, which,
with the exception of the personal ornaments of
the female members of his family, were of very incon-
siderable value ; he also handed to the same agent a
schedule specifying the property left behind him at
Sattara, and I have no doubt that an inquiry would
have established the perfect accuracy of the Raja's
statement. According to that schedule, and to all
the other information which has reached me, the Raja
was deprived of property, bona fide private, of the
value of not less than 300,0001. sterling. What then,
Sir, becomes of the boasts
,which have been uttered
in this House of the liberality of the East India
Company ? From the time the Raja was dethroned
until his death, he received (during a period of eight
years) about 100,0001. in all, for the support of him-
self, his family, and 1,200 persons of all ranks who
followed him into banishment, and were entirely de-
pendent upon him—or about one-third the amout of
his private property, the savings of twenty yews, and
about one-fifteenth or sixteenth part of the revenues
of the territory from which he had been driven.
The liberality of the company has cost them
nothing, for every farthing has been taken from
the treasury of Sattara—(Sir John C. Hob-
house nodded assent)—while they have secured
to themselves, by the second treaty, the rever-
sion of Jagheers, yielding 50,000/. a year. In-
sinuations have been thrown out calculated to lead
uninformed persons to suppose that the late Raja had
it in his power to expend lavish sums upon agitation
in this country. It is true, that out of of his allow-
ance he found the means of supporting a native gen-
tleman as his representative in this country; but it
is not true that the Raja, since his dethronement, has
had it in his power, even if•he had felt
of hiselttbewish,to
spend any large sum for the advancementcause in England. The efforts which have been
made in his behalf have been of the most spontaneous
and disinterested character. No one in this assembly
will imagine that Sir Gore Ouseley, Sir Charles
Forbes, Sir Harford Jones Brydges, Alderman Sa-
lomans, General Briggs, Mr. John Sullivan, Mr.
John Poynder, Mr. Charles Norris ; and East India
directors like General Robertson, Mr. Tucker, Mr.
Shepherd, Mr. John Forbes, Colonel Sykes, Major
Oliphant, and Mr. Cotton ' • or gentlemen like Ser-
geant Storks, Sergeant Gaselee, and Mr. Lewis,
were in the habit of receiving bribes from the
deposed Raja of Sattara—(" Hear, hear," from Sir
J. C. Hobhouse)—yet all these gentlemen, and many
more, have been strenuous advocates for the re-
opening of this case, and for its adjudication upon
just and upright principles.—(Hear.) Let
Board
a _ list .of
Right Hon. Baronet the President of the . of
Control terso lfr 0
mcite,
free ethfrom_any
connexion with the proceedings against amongst if
thhoes e who,can besiuneghf
thate Uejes,
have come forward to oppose the claims. Prince
of money in his .
the Raja expended a large su.
to justice. It is true that, prevmious to his deposal,
of a breach of treaty by the company; but that
endeavours to send agents to this country to cemplain
expenditure
was necessary, because the 'Bombay
Government refused a port clearance to the ships
that would otherwise have brought those agents, and
the Raja was driven to the expedient of purchasing
a vessel to convey his representatives to these shores.
The following extract from one of the dispatches of
Major Carpenter, to the Government of India, will
show how far the Raja possessed the means of keeping
up an agitation here, and will also throw some light
upon the question of his private property :
" ' The Raja informs me that since his deposition
he has been much distressed for want of funds, which
I really believe to be the case, and I know he has not
even had the means of purchasing necessary clothing
for his family since their arrival in Benares, as my
advances to him have been merely sufficient to sub-
sist his family, followers, and cattle, lest I should
exceed the spirit of your instructions. With regard
to the private property Major Carpenter ob-
serves, ' I have taken pains to ascertain from
what source the said property was derived, and it
appears that in Capt. Grant's time two treasuries were
established by that officer's advice, the one private, in
which the sums allotted for the support of the Prince
and his family were deposited the other for Me public
purposes of the State, wherein there were upwards qf
six lacs and 40,000 rupees, at the time the Raja was
dethroned, which form no part of his claim; but he I
declares the whole of the money, jewels, and other
property, claimed by him as private, are the salting! . .
of his privy purse, or surplus,of the private treasury.
But I may be asked to show in what way these facts
bear upon the present state of the case, and I will,
therefore, briefly describe the condition of the Raja's
family and followers who are now at Benares.
Since the death of the Reja, on the 13th of October
last, not a shilling has been received by the Raja a
widow, or the adopted son, from the British Govern-
ment. Application was made to the Age 4 for the