The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,

ROUSE OF LORDS —(YESTERDAY,) ESTERDAY,)
lee LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
5 o'clock.
The Duke of BUCCLEITCH presented a number of
petitions in fe your bill as originally introduced into
that hou--e oh t'aF• • I ject of Scotch Education. .The
noble duke a!--, Fresented petitions against tile bill in,
te,cluced in the course of the present session, and also
-one petitions against the Lord Advecate'm Bill,
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
On the motion of Lord REDESDALE, the following
bids were severally read a third time and passed—viz..
Cairness Estate, Davidson's Divorce, Lewes, Eastbori,,
and Halishana Roads, Conway and Llandudno Road,
West of Fife Illieeral Rallsvay, Illaybole and Girvan
Railway, Fe-rest of Dean Central Railway, Severn Na-
vigation Improvement Commission, and Thames Haven
Dock and Railway.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH presented a petition
from Pertaub Singh and Bisheu Singh, lardnoniers in
the Pahjaub, complaining of great grievances for
which they could obtain no remedy. They stated that
they held possession of property which had descended to
them as rightful heirs, and had come down to them
from the owners three centuries ago. O:i the conquest
of the Punjaub the Board of Administration recom-
mended that a fourth of their property should be retained
by the Government and that three-fourths should be held
by themselves, Considering tl.e peculiar circumstances
of the ;country at that time, and the expenses to
which the Government were subject, they did not
object to that arrangement. In 1853 the Indian Go-
vernment confirmed that decision so far as allowing the
three-fourths of the properly to be kept by them during
their lives, but one-third of the property should
pass to the descendants of those Indian land-
owners. Subsequently the Indian Government refused
to confirm' the latter arrangements, consequently the
petitioners, who were the heirs of the propietora with
whom the arrangements were made, were deprived ef their
inheritance, and therefore exposed to penury and want.
The petitioners complained of this treatment, which was
most unwarrantable towards them, inasmuzh as they
stated that, so far from opposing the British authorities
in India, they had rendered them good service in Scinde.
They prayed the interference of their lordships' house in
their behalf.
The Duke of ARGYLL said, whatever doubts might
be raised as to the circumstances under which other
parts of India were acquired by the British, there could
be no doubt as to our right of taking possession of the
provinces of the Punjaub, and dealing with the property
as they thought best. The principles by which the
East India Government were actuated were to respect
the grants already made, but not to go beyond that.
The noble duke here read an extract from the instruc-
tions of the Governor-General to the Board of Adminis-
tration in the Punjaub, which laid down as a general
principle the assessment of the land for the purposes of
the Government. He should state that the property in
question was not land, or revenue derivable from land,
but grant of remission from taxation on land. The Go-
vernor-General having laid down in his instruction the
general principle, went on to detail the different classes
of cases with which the Board of Administration would
have to deal ; and the case which the noble earl had
brought forward came under the fifth head of the instruc-
tion, namely, " that all persons holding lands subject
to pay fines should hold them for their lives, subject to
the payment of one-fourth to the revenue, and that on
the death of the holder the property would be resumed
by the Government." The general principle was, that
the grants were respected as regarded the existing hold-
ers ; but should not be continued to future holders, ex-
cept those which had been given for certain religious
purposes. It was under these general rules that this case
stood. If the claim were conceded in this case it must
be conceded in all others of a similar nature, and that it
would involve the sacrifice of one-fifth of the whole re-
venue of the province, the abstraction of which would
necessarily throw the whole fiscal syetem into confusion,
and render it difficult, if not impossible, to carry ou the
Government. He was not in possession of any very full
information of the grounds which had led the supreme
government of India to decide that this was not one of
the exceptional cases contemplated in the general rules,
but he would submit the petition to his right hon. friend
the President of the Board of Control, and if his right
hon. friend saw grounds, he was sure that neither the
India Government, nor the Court of Directors, would
refuse to reconsider the decision to which they had come.
They must not, however, lose sight of the difficulties of
the case, nor forget that a favourable decision in this case
might involve a similar decision of 5,000 or 6,000 others.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH—The noble duke
will recollect that the commissioners recommended that
these persons should have one-third of the whole amount
settled in perpetuity upon their families.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE urged the necessity
of some further inquiry instigated by their lordships, ob-
serving that if the matter were to end by simply laying
the petition upon the table, the whole proceeding would
be a farce, and the boast that the house was open as a
court of appeal to all subjects of the Crown who corn
plained of injustice a "sham."
The petition was then ordered to he on the table.
THE MILITIA STAFF.

The Duke of BUCCLEUCH rose, pursuant to notice,
to call the attention of her Majesty's Government to the
constitution and pay of the permanent staff of the militia
regiments, and to ask what were their intentions upon
the subject, and also what were their intentions with re-
ference to the retention of quartermasters on the perma-
nent staff He remembered that great exertions had
been made during the war to bring the militia into a
state of efficiency, and he had heard from the most com-
petent judges in military matters that those efforts had
been eminently successful—(hear)—but now that the
force was about to be disembodied, unless means were
taken to maintain a competent staff, the force would in
a few months be as inefficient, and as utterly unfit for
active service, as it was when the war first broke out.
He understood that an opinion had been expressed in
both houses in favour of keeping up a -strong militia
force, not iu numbers, but such a force as in the event
of any sudden emergency would form the nucleus of a
more ,powerful and sufficient force, immediately avail-
able for garrison duty here, so as to leave the regular
army free for foreign service, and also to supply volun-
teers to the line, who would be qualified at once to be in-
corporated into the service cowponies. The point, how-
ever, to which he now wished to call attention was the
condition of the permanent staff, and the manner in
which it was constituted and paid. He had conversed with
many officers upon the subject, and their unanimous opi-
nion was, that with the present staff it would he impos-
sible to keep up the efficiency of the regiments, and that
it would be necessary to have recourse for that purpose
to the assistance of non-commissioned officers of the line.
The number of serjeants allowed—viz., two to a com-
pany—was obviously insufficient to keep the regiment in
a proper state of drill. He recommended that the num-
ber of serjeants should be increased, that the drum-
maj•)r, the paymaster's clerk, and the hospital serjeant
should be retained, and that their pay should be large
enough to obviate the necessity of their seeking for other
employment to enable them to exist. He complained of
the hardship which the arrangement for the disembodi-
ment of the force inflicted upon the quartermasters. In
certain of the regiments the quartermasters were to be
retained at the reduced pay of ss. a day, but if it was ne-
cessary to have quartermasters in one regiment it was
equally so in another, and it was impossible fur a regi-
ment that had to be called out every year for training to
do without such an officer. The regulation which re-
quired the quartermaster to be a subaltern also operated
iujuriously in the case of non-commissioned officers, who,
being in every way qualified, were willing to accept the
office of quartermaster, but objected to the subaltern's
commission. The expense of continuing the staff in such
a state as would at all times insure the efficiency of the
force would be comparatively trifling, while the advan-
tages which would result were almost incalculable.

The Duke of RICHMOND spoke to the same effect.
He hoped his noble friend would see the importance of
keeping such regiments as he retained in a state of effi-
ciency. If they could not afford ten, let them keep five ;
but for Heaven's sake keep them as regiments uught to
be kept,

Lord PANMURE said that with reference to the
militia generally, Government bad listened with great
attention to the opinion which had been expressed by
well-qualified persons. The intention was to keep up in
each case a certain permanent staff, which although per-
haps not sufficient for a whole regiment, still would be a
flue eus which, with the addition of some non-commis-
sioned officers, would complete a regiment. With re-
ference to the pay of that staff, he thought that with re-
ference to the non-commissioned officers the allowance
of 10s. 6d. a week would be sufficient for them, in addi-
tion to any civil employment they might have. In-
deed he doubted whether if they were confined ex-
clusively to military duties there would be any military
duties for them to perform. With regard to drawing
their rations at contract prices he saw no objection to
the adoption of his noble friend's suggestion. The case
of the quartermasters had been considered, and he did
not think it would be exercising a wise discretion to ap-
point these officers where the stores to be attended to
were only small in amount. His noble friends would
see that the whale of the militia question had been care-
fully considered by the Government.
After a few words from several noble lords,
The conversation then dropped.
THE POLISH EXILES.
Lord LYNDHURST then rose to ask the question of
which he had given notice. He said—My Lords, allow
me, even at this late hour of the evening, to say a few
words for the purpose of explaining the object I had in
view when I intimated my intention of asking the ques-
tion of my noble friend of which I have given him notice
In a recent publication by an eminent foreign statesman,
the Count de Montalembert, he complains in strong
terms of the course pursued by the late Congress ai
Paris in censuring the Governments of Napes and Greece.
He contrasts the course of proceedings on that occasion '
with the silence that prevailed in respect to the wrongs
of Poland, and he comments both diplomatically and
morally upon the consequences of the ancient treaties
that bad been entered into, That learned gentleman en-
larges upon those topics with his usual ability. lam
certainly compelled to admit that, so far as appears
on the face of the protocol., there is nothing whatever
to show that the affairs of Poland were at all bniught
under the consideration of conwress, I know my noble
friepq opposite too well-...J have too high an opinion of
his generous character to suppoee for a moment that he
could be bileLt upon such a subject. I am persuaded,
from the circumstances, that snob an omission on the
part of my noble friend is quite impossible. Allow me
for a moment to recall to your lordships' attention some
of the past
circumatapo, cmapecteti with this question.