The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-04 00:00:00

.risk of the proprietors, and all this done without the mat-
teree::4 :ore:the of Directir,. Si Err
acts we!e done the Government considered themselves
bound to support those who did them,and thus the great and
important interests of India might be sacrificed, and the
proprietors ruined. Let them profit by experience, and
prevent the evils which had arisen from former proceed-
ings of the home Government and the secret committee.
The Company now had relations with from fifty to an
hundred native states; if any dispute arose between
them, there was no power to settle it, and the only re-
sort was to Parliament. What profit could be gained
by that might be seen from the manner in which
Parliament had acted in reference to the case of the
Raja of Sattara, who had been robbed of his territory,
died in exile, .and had his property confiscated. He
would not, however, abrogate the Court of Directors, as
the Hon. Gentleman proposed. If the House should be
sa infatuated as to place India under such a Government
as that of the Colonial-office at the present moment, it
would not long remain in our possession. There was no
time to be lost; and, supposing that the information
wanted could be obtained in the course of this year and
the next, Government might be enabled to give the
question due consideration, which it had not obtained on
the last occasion of the renewal of the charter, and to
produce a well-framed measure at the commencement of
the succeeding session.

Sir J. W. HOGG said the Court of Directors were as
anxious as the Hon. Member for Montrose for an open
and searching inquiry into everything connected with
the administration of India. It would ill-become that
House to continue the administration of the affairs of
that country in the Board of Directors, unless they were
satisfied by a searching inquiry that in so doing they
would advance the interests not only of this country, but
still more of the people of India. Had the Hon. Member
who brought forward this motion confined himself to im-
pressing upon the House the necessity of a full inquiry
(about which, however, there could not be the slightest
difference of opinion), and to explaining the grounds on
which he thought that that inquiry should be conducted
by a commission sent out to India,rather than by a Com-
mittee of that House, he (Sir J. W. Hogg) could have
understood his course. He had not done so, but had
adopted one which was both uncandid and unfair, since,
when professing to call for inquiry, he took a range of
subjects, commencing almost with the first time that a
British foot was planted in India, and extending over al-
most the whole subsequent history of that country;
and during his speech he had cast imputations of the
vilest character upon every authority and every
indivi-
dual who came under hie notice. The statements of the
Hoe. Member were, in many instances, quite unsupported
by history, and by documents and returns which were
before the House, and were available to every one. The
Hon. Member had told the House that the great griev-
ance of India was the non-employment of the natives in
situations of emolument. It was true that, previous to
the last renewal of the charter in 1833, the natives were
employed only in the humblest and most subordinate
situations (scarcely any of them obtaining a salary of
1004 a year). But at present there were natives re-
ceiving salaries of 6001. 7001., and 8001. a year; and
although previously they had not a voice in the adminis-
tration of justice, shortly after 1833 the moonses and
sudda ameers were enabled to adjudicate on questions
involving property to the extent of 5001. and 1,0001.; and
since then this restriction had been removed in that pre-
sidency, and the sudda ameers could now in the first in-
stance adjudicate without any restriction founded on the
amount at stake'in the cause, or on the religion or colour
of the plaintiff or defendant, and whether the litigants
were natives or Europeans. And if the litigants were
dissatisfied with the result of the trial, the appeal lay,
not to the district judge, but to the highest tribunal in
the country. The administration of justice in the first
instance was in fact almost entirely in the hands of the
natives, in the presidency of Bengal; and as appeals
from their decisions were not more frequent than those
which formerly took place when the judges in the first
instance were the servants of the Company, the experi-
ment might be considered to have been made with entire
success—success which was entirely owing to its having
been made cautiously and gradually. The natives were
also largely employed in the collection of the revenue.
The Honourable Member's statement that the land-tax
in India was imposed according to the value of the
crop (whether, for instance, sugar, indigo, or cotton),
and not necerding to the productive powers of the
soil, was wholly incorrect. The reprehensible system
of imposing the tax according to the nature of the
crop- existed in small portions of the presidencies of
Madras and Bembay fourteenlor fifteen years ago, but
it had not existed for a great number of years in
Bengal, and was now entirely abolished. With re-
spect to the alleged monopoly in salt, he (Sir J. W.
Hogg) had satisfied the Committee presided over by Mr.
Wilbraham (to which the Hon. Member had referred),
that that gentleman's Cheshire constituents, or any one
else, might carry salt to India, provided they paid a
duty equivalent to the excess of the charge made by the
Government over the cost of production. There was no
prohibition against the importation of salt into Bengal,
and so far from its being " contraband," as the Hon.
Member had said, it was actually imported from the
Straits of Malacca, Bombay, Madras, and Ceylon, and
it might be imported from Cheshire on the same terms.
Whether the Government put too high a tax on salt, or
whether they should manufacture salt at all, was quite a
different question. The Hon. Member had next charged
the Indian Government with laying a tax upon wells;
but the very .bock from which he had quoted showed the
great encouragement which they had given to the con-
struction of works of irrigation. Then, too, it was not
correct that the growth of opium was a monopoly, or that
the Ilyots were compelled to cultivate it. It was prin-
cipally grown in Central India, by persons who cultivated
it voluntarily, sent it to Bombay, and paid the transit
tax. The Honourable Member for Youghal next as-
sailed the civil service of India. The Honourable Mem-
ber for Montrose had paid that service a just and well-
merited compliment ; and he (Sir J. W. Hogg) believed
that there never was a class of men more distinguished
for their talents or integrity in scenes of great trial and
danger. It was seldom that a case occurred in which a
member of the civil service was charged with ineffi-
ciency, and a case of corruption was almost unpa-
ralleled. The accusation which the Honourable Mem-
ber for Montrose had brought against that House of not
listening to the Sattara case was a very unfair one ;
that case had been listened to for 13 or 14 years.
The " desclate widow" had now 2,500 rupees a month
for the support of herself and family, and the reason
it had not been paid to her before was, that she had
listened to bad advisers, who counselled her not to ac-
cept it. He (Sir J. W. Hogg) did not like to hear
any imputations cast upon Lord Dalhousie; he believed
that there never was a Governor-General to whom both
India and this country were more indebted, who had
never been surpassed for energy, for humanity, and for
administrative talents; and he was sure that when his
Hon. Friend (Mr. Hume) was more familiar with the
administration of affairs in the Punjaub, and knew the
state of disorder in which that country was for many
years, ho would be delighted to hear that it was now
almost an uninterrupted garden, throughout which peace
and industry reigned undisturbed; the old works of irri-
gation had been re-opened, and almost the last dispatch
he had signed, with the sanction of the President of the
Board of Control, authorised the expenditure of
500,0004 upon new works of irrigation, a grant urgently
pressed for by Lord Dalhousie. The extent, too, to
which education had been carried in the Punjaub would
exceed the belief of Hon. Members. With regard to the
absence of Lord Dalhousie and his predecessor, Lord
Hardinge, from the seat of Government, would any one
tell him that, during the recent disturbances on the
north-west frontier, Calcutta was the place for the
Governor-General ? His place was at the scene of
action ; nor was it merely during the disturb-
ances that ,their presence was required ; for when
they ceased, the most important duties of re-organ-
izing the administration of the province commenced ;
and then was the time when the effect of such
administrative talents as Lord Dalhousie's was felt.
And when the House considered the small number of
civilians employed in the Punjaub, and the small aggre-
gate cost (although each individual was well paid),
they would be astonished at the quantity of work done
there, and the amount of revenue realised. Not a
single officer had been added to the civil service in con-
sequence of the annexation of the Punjaub. After re-
ferring to the full and detailed character of the informa-
tion with respect to every department of Indian affairs,
which might be obtained at the India House in London,
and stating that any one conversant with Indian affairs
would prefer to seek for information (either as to the,
principles
or details) there rather than in the Council
Chambers of the Presidencies in India, the Honourable
Member denied the imputation that a collecter was
esteemed by the authorities, either in India or at home,
merely on account of the amount of revenue which he
exacted. One collector had, in fact, brought upon him-
self the well-merited censure of the Government be-
cause great injury had been inflicted by an injudi-
cious increase of the revenue. He hoped that he
had been able to satisfy the Honourable Member that
the absence of Lord Dalhousie from his presidency
was not uncalled for. He quite admitted that the Go-
vernor-General had better reside at the seat of govern-
ment, except in the case where a vast extent of new
territory had been annexed; and he could say, that Lord
Dalhousie had accomplished more in the organization of
the Punjaub than could possibly have been accomplished
by any man, however able, residing at a distance of 1,800
miles, at Calcutta. Lord Dalhousie was also obliged to
absent himself from the seat of government on account of
his health, for he was not a man of strong constitution;
his physical was not equal to his mental vigour, and at
one time the greatest possible apprehensions were enter-
tained that he must be compelled to return. He (Sir J.
W. Hogg), however, hoped that his Lordship might be
able to remain in India to accomplish the greet objects
in the promotion of which he was now engaged. He
hoped that the House would call for information of the
fullest and most searching character; and he ventured
also to add the expression of a hope that when that in-
formation was obtained, the country would be of opinion
that the East India Company had not been unfaithful
stewards and administrators of a country which was the
richest, greatest, and most valuable possession of the
Crown.—(Cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT said that the Commission of Inquiry
for which he moved last session related merely to the
growth of cotton and the economical administration of
India, leaving out of view everything connected with po-
litics. Thlit motion having been rejected, the persons
connected with the trade of Lancashire, for whom he
had acted, hid themselves dispatched to India a gentle-
mon of high character, very considerable experience,
and most unimpeachithle integrity, to inquire into these
subjects. They were, therefore, doing for themselves
what he thought the Government ought to have done
for them. The Motion before the House contemplated
an inquiry of a widely different character; he thought
it would have been better had it been so framed as
merely to express the necesA.ty for a full and searching
inquiry being made before the renewal of the charter,
if it was renewed. On that point he thought they would
all have agreed, althosigh it slid appear open to a very