The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-28 00:00:00

THE GOVERNMENT OF TSDI,A.

The following ld-tt,r from the Chair nau and
Deputy-Chai Mall of thP Hon. E,st Itnlia Corn-
any to .h Pres de it of the Board of Control was
dubli-hed wi h the vote- of the House of CJramous
elef day:—

"East India House, June 23.
"My Lord,-1. Aitecu,gli the Bill which has
been newly brought in by her Majerey's Ministers
for the better government of India' has not yet
been formally cemmunieived. to the Court of Direc-
tors, the Court, influenced by the desire which
they have already expressed to give all aid in
their power towards rendering the scheme of
Government which it is the pleasure of Parlia-
:fleet to substitute for the East India Company
s efficient f r its purposes as possiele, hive
requested us t•k lay before your Lordship, and
through you before her Majesty's Government, a
few obserliatioes cei some portions of the hill.
" 2. Having in documents which have been pre-
sented to Parliament expressed their sentiments
tully on all tie general features of tie su'rject the
Court refrain fr.tin offering any further arguments
on points upon which the Government and the
House of Commons seem to have pronounced a
decided opinion. The joint governm•nt of e.
Minister and a Council, composed in majority
of persons of Indian experience, deriving their
appointment only partially from Ministerial no-
initiation, and all of them holding office on a
tikeure independent of the Mieia er, is a combina-
tion which fufil•-,, to a cousideraele extent, the con-
ditions of a good organ of government for India.
The Coin t would hive much preferred that in the
constitution of the Council more extensive recourse
hid been hail ti the elective principle. But if they
cannot hope t.at this course will be adopt-d, they
see many advantages in the provision by which one-
half the number, instead of being named by the
Government, will be selected by a responsible body
intimately connected with India, to whom the qua-
lificati. ns of candidates will in general be accurately
known, aid who will be under wrong induc meats
t make sukh a choice as will tend to increase the
credit and considera i n of the b
"3. With regard to tee quilific .tioss prescribed
for members of Council the t desire to offer a
suggestion. Her. Majesty's present G ;verument
have on many eccasioes expressed a desire to secure
:he Crown appointments against the evils of abuse
of patronage. The s curity against such abuse
has hither o coesisted in the strict limitatien of
the appoiiitteente to persons who have served a
consid-raele 'number of years in India. .‘a
the Court fully agree wi;h her Majes y's
yernment in recoguising the deeratilen- ss of
an English eletnent, it does not s• em to tie m
advi-able that this element should extend to
ne.rly half tile Council, only a bare majority being
reserk ed for per ons of Indian experience. lan.w-
-ledge of India is, after all, the most imeortaet re-
quisite for a seat in the Indian Council, while it is
chiefly in the English nom'na ions that there is
any presedt danger lest appointments should be
obtained through political or parliateenta•y influ-
ence, from which influence, it. less into lined
threugh tha' channel, the Council, like the Court
of Et:rectors, may be expected to be altogether free.
The Court, there fore, recommend that the qualifica-
tion elf ten years' Indian service or residence be
made imperative on at least two-thirds instead of a
mere maj rity of the 15 members of Council.
They also think it questionable if the int rests of
India will he promoted by the exclusion of the
whole of the members of the Council fro'n seats in
Parliament. These are the oily medifications
which we are requested to suggest n th• provisions
respecinta the composition of 11- Council.
"4. at we lament to =ee tha, tee clauses which
define its functions are liable to far greeter objec-
tions. From the sentiments wi.ich have been pub-
licly expres,-ed, b rte by your lordship and by other
members of the Administration, as well as from the
terms of clause 19, which declare that the Council,
under the direction of the Secretary of State,
is to conduct the business transacted in the
Uni ed Kingdom in relation to the g ,verninent of
India and the correspondence with India,' the court
are perusaded that her Majes y's Government
regard the Council, not as a body without regular
fu ctions or duties, whom the Minister is at full
liner y habi,ually to disregard, but as a substan-
tive part of the working organ of government.
It is therefore incumbent on the Court to repre-
seet to your lordship that the details of the bill not
only do not Ca, ry out this conception but wou'd
pear to be inc niistentevith it.
" 5. It is hardly Dec -scary to remark that the
Council cannot conduct the business trausacteti
in the United Kingdom in relation to the gove'rn-
meet of India aed the correspondence with India,'
unless prevision bo made for the meeting regularly
at tOior, in ervals to dispose of the busines., as it
arises. The 611, r, makes no provision f r
any regular or periodical meetings of the Council,
but leaves t e lime of convening it, and even the
convening it at all, to the entire discre•ion of the
Secretary of State, saving the case necessar ly ex-
eeptional of a requisition in wiitieg by five mem-
bers, which would impose on the reeuis tionsts e
necessity ef appeal in. to place themselves in a pos-
ture ef oeposition to him.
6 By the 16th clause the Couccil are d-nird
ail powe- over the es ablidimen , beyond the first
appointment to j, nior el rksh-ps and inferi- r olflc s,
all promo ion being in de by t .e Seer tary of State
alone, and the appointment of se retaries or assis
'ant-secre•aties end heads of dep etnients being
wholly reserved to him ; while the (Beers, incine_
ing those whose (Jul, it is to prep re dr :ugh s f
despatch°. are te us entirely witsidrawn from the
contr. 1 o the Council ; the bill does not even pro-
vide that the draughts, when prepared, shall, as a
matter of incess ty, be considered and discussed in
Council. It only provides that they shall, seven
days before being sent to India, be placed in the
council-room for i'ispection by ihe members, to
afford them an i•ppott inity for the invidious office
of recording objectiei.s ; and tits power ofd -.sent
from a measure or a docum nt are ady sane-
• ioned by the Ministe,: is the only positive fui,ction
wlech the girl secure.; to the Council. It is obvious
bat the same comments which, if wade at the eat ly
stage of the p:oceedings before the Minister has
made up les mind, hive the character ef cordial
and ze dolts co—peration, will, if delayed until his
intenii u 3 ease be n declared, ak,suine ,h.• aspect of
eepositioe and tenioestrinee, and ere, ther.-
foe, inech Ic-s likely ether to tek made at
all, or it made te be of any effi,a,;y, unless
by way of a protest.
"7. The Court submit tear the ()lily mode by
which di,ect action of tha Mioister and he eub-
stiintire exis'ence of the Con,,cl as a ci °Rs:rating
b ><f y. can he brought in c kittple,o harmony w• •uld
be by iii ct:ng 'hat all ordinary business, and as
far ,ss possible all besine-s, shill be trail ,ac ed by
the Minister in Council. A periect.and mat suc-
cessful example of this mode of transacting husi-
ne-s is afforded by the loc 1 Gevetneie ,t i f Indiae
All business. as a matter of tour e, transacted by
the Govern r-G,•tersi or G ,vtrnor iu Council, and,
as a general rule, the decision is according to the
vote of the majerity. But the Governor-Gene al
er Governor has the power of setting asiee the de-
cision ou assuming the formal responsibility and
teeaMing his reasoes. No inconvenience of any
kind has ever been experienced fran this arrange-
ment ; it has never been found either to hamper
tee discr tion or in any degree impair tie respon-
sibility of the head of •he Government. It ca•,not
be ci üb-ed tart the MiniAer for India would find
tee sa s e a .vaetage from this principle in superiu-
teniiii g the administration which a Wellesley and
a Dalhousie found in conducting it is all its com-
plicaled details.

" 8. The Onnrt see no re‘son for withdrawing
from the deliber ,tion and knowledge of the Council
even ush sobjects as are at present dispised of
through the Secret Committee. is heir convic-
tion that the power of c allying into effect mea ures
of th Ing'.est importance without the advice or
eve'• the knoavt-dge of the C urt of Directors h d
been the sou,ce in tittles pat't of some,ofthe greatest
errors and of the rea•est calamities which aro re-
corded in our Indian history ; and they earnestly
rac
umniend that a lacier be raised against the fu-
ture exerctos of this dangerous power, and teat
since presume ti.a. the Council will pos-
3her M.je ty,., Ministers- the
ssthite M
confidence,vbe ~ f
advice be vest
wind in the Conned
on atlalnd Bu
ledian mi striation, with-
rightletycts of
of
with-
out exc-pting as hith rt fr m their cognisance,
sonic of the most important of
" 9. The Court a! e of op ini•tn that, on all toes-
ti rega• ding expenditure the Onut.cil should
*Ave more than consultative voice, attd ha these

que,tioni should be an ex e. tion to the power
which the S-cretary of Stite will in all other ca
posses 4of sitting aside opinion. The disposal
of the entire r-venues of India by he m re fiv of
a Minis er freed from the nec,ssityofthe assent of
any cu-sir iinate authority, would, the Court con-
ceive, be neither consistent with the princ,ples of
the constitution nor conducive to the good admini-
stration of the Indian finances. The propriety of
allowing to the Council in this one departm:nt a
negative voice w4s recognised in one of the Bills

introduced into Parl!ament, and the omissi.ui to
include such a proiision in tfie present all is, the
Court hope, only the effect of inadvertence.

_ . "
10. The Court think it of great importance
that the Council should. be assleiated:with the Mi-
nister in deciding on appointments to the higher a.
well as the inferior situations of the establishment,
and on the position and the remuneration of the
officers. Th,,y deem this impop ant both for
se-
curing the due influence of th- Council over the
establishment, .and for promoting the legitimate
intaglia oi 741904 am!