The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-12 00:00:00

THE I:ATiI OF DISCOUNT.

The Bank of England yesterday reduced.
their rate of discount from 31 per cent., at which
it was on Thursday last, to 3 per cent.
Nearly five years have passed since the rate was
at 3 per cent., a gradual advance, with one or two
short exceptional intervals, has taken p'ace from
the Ist of June, 1853, when it last stood at that
p int. Previously, however, for nearly five years
—that is to say, from the date of the complete sub-
si.!ence of the effects of the panic of 1847,—it bad
stea lily kept between 2 and 3 per cent. That
period comprised 239 week,,, dur:n..t which the
ininiwunt was 3 per cent. for 129 weeks, 2i per
cent. for 74 weeks, and 2 per cent. for 36 wee_k! ;
while the average stock of bullion was 16,83000anil
the lowest amount having been 13,254,t::
the highest 22,232,138/. At presentanthde
is
cense-
is, probably, about 16,300,0001.,
u t heretofore
quently, eqmil to 0%71? eas„.
tound cunsiNtent with a proic tretoln'tjuite,
It' held
The increase still Pr°'o Tillso"Contireof Lame apiu
inein resunied, to.ininiuditahte signht.hhat tnlel
ose w lc wt
sums reqtur
arrive.-- r'inedes wt:iteltryd b.A)esti
Ile! a.

*ll
; :.41) • AI
Gar
4 §ri
;y . S'4 4Ay
lo
• -

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEB. 13, 1858.

We cannot feel surprised at the resistance offered
by the East India Company to the contemplated
measure for the improved Government •f the im-
portant districts over which they have hitherto
exercised partial control, and the vast patronage
whereof was mainly in their hands? No body of
men will willingly assent to a measure which vir-
tually involves their own political annihilation,
and reduces them to mere cyphers, where they
were accustomed to exercise immense influence.
Tkat they should strain every ner►e to retain the
position they have so long occupied is but natural,
and that they should receive the support of those
who have accepted favours at their hands, and
who may have a lively sense of no incon-
siderable benefits yet to come follows as
a corollary, Rven NELA had his admirers and
mourners, and it would be strange, indeed, if a
respectable—although not very efficient body
shoald iot fiad persons willing to take their part,
-and advocate their interests in the discussions
about to take place.

In the elaborate defence of the existinc,
'lo-
Indian Government, which was brought forward
by Earl GREY last night in the Upper House, Tani.
ous pleas were put forward. The dilatory one,
which protested against immediate legislation, and
desired that no change should be istroduesd, or
even discussed, until British supremacy had been
completely re-established and peace restored
throughout the entire empire—was entirely
thrown overboard by their noble advocate, who
sould not agree in the prayer for further inquiry,
and leaving the public mind in India disturbed by
possible changes looming largely in the future. As
the Duke of ARGYLL truly declared, in his temperate
and able speech, " such an inquiry would be pro.
ductive of most injurious effects on the Govern-
ment of that empire. It would lead to an organised
agitation that would completely unsettle the public
mind, and be productive of very untoward results."
We are already in possession of ample information;
mad have all the elements necessary for immediate
legislation. Under such circumstances a FABIAN
poticy would be the very worst that could possi-
blX be adopted both for England and for India.

It would go far to prevent a speedy and satisfac-
tory arrangement of the great questions at issue,
and would keep up an excitement very injurious
to the restoration of that quietude so essential to
the peace and tranquillity of our Indian dominions,

The East India Company can now put forward
no valid claim for the continuance of the functions
they have so long exercised. They have no
pecuniary interests at stake—no commercial
speculations that can be compromised by the
surrender of exclusive privileges. All these mat-
ters were disposed of nearly a quarter of a century
since. They ceased to be a trading corporation in
1833, and in place of being dependent for their
dividends on the profits to be realised by
business transactions, received fixed returns
at the rate of 101. 10s. per cent. guaranteed
by the English nation for forty years and then
only redeemable on payment of 2001. for every
100/. originally invested. This was by no means
a bad arrangement for the proprietors, who were
certain of receiving their money whether the In-
dian revenue was productive or not. No matter
whatever the deficiency, they must be paid their
full demand, which will be liquidated without
deduction or drawback, even during the present
year, when a loan of 10,000,0001., to be raised in
England for the use of India, is imperatively re-
quired.

Surely, then, it is time that the wardship should
cease.--that the British Government should cease
to .be iii static ptcpillare. The Company are but
trustees for the Crown, and it is time that it should
regulate its own affairs in the manner most advan-
tageous for its subjects at home and abroad.
Indeed, the interests of England and India
are one and indivisible, and tie sooner
they are united in name as well as in
substance the better for all parties concerned.
Hitherto there has been a divided allegiance
and a total absence of responsibility. Questions
of vital importance were bandied about between
Cannon-row and Leadenhall-street, and the
anomalous double Government was made the
excuse for shelving for an indefinite time matters
that required immediate and attentive considera-
tion. The Governor-General was the servant of
two masters. He should strive to please the
Lidia Board and the Conrt of Directors, as
he might be recalled in a very summary manner
by either. Lord ELLEINBOROUGH can speak
feelingly on this point, and the history
of the Hero of Meeanee and Hyderabad
proved that the interests of the Anglo-Indian
Empire could not always prevail ever personal
feelings, where the selection of a Commander-ia-
Chief was to be decided on. Practically, the
Directors have only acted as a council to the Bri-
tish Government, and surely the necessary advice
may be received in a better form from parties
selected by the Government. If there is to be
responsibility, there should likewise be the most
perfect freedom of action. We should not force a
body of Councillors on any department, and then
hold it liable for any mistakes that may happen.
The change, too, will produce proper attention
'to the affairs of India in Parliament. We shall
no longer witness the apathy and indifference
which produced a beggarly account of empty
benches. Whenever an Indian budget was to be
opened, or an Indian discussion inevitable, we
sball not find the House counted out, and the
whippers-in changing their characters, and
asking Right Honourable and Honourable
Gentlemen to go and amuse themselves for
the evening. A reasonable amount of
knowledge respecting the affairs of India
will be required by every canaidate for a seat in
Parliament, and the subject can no longer be
ignored, or treated with contemptuous disdain, by
those who aspire to be the chosen representatives
of the people.
The Duke of ARGYLL was, of course, unable to
forestall his leader by explaining the nature of the
proposed alterations. But, despite that serious
disadvantage, he was enabled to overthrow
the arguments of Earl GREY, although the latter
nobleman is a skilful and practised debater, and
spared no efforts to sustain the cause which he
had deliberately undertaken.

We have just had placed on our table a
Memorandum of the linprocements in the Ad-
ministration of India during the last Thirty
Years." It is signed by no one ; published by
no one ; it purports to have aortae into existenct-
in London, in the Year of Grace 183'8, but not
any printer even witnesses to the legitimacy of
its birth. It is, however, a healthy looking in•
fant, large octavo, contains 101 printed pages, is
of the proper blue complexion, and a glance at
few pages renders the paternity unquestionable.
The Honourable the Directors of the East India
Company here tell us what a blessing they have
been to the Indian Empire.

We purpose, then, very briefly to give the pur-
port of this memorandum. The virtuous accused
is now upon his trial. To-night JOHN COMPANY
stands before the representatives of JoHN Blau,
and " to be or not to be, that is the question."
In a few hours the whole case is to be opened by
the Prime Minister of England, and the rule which
began with the battle of Plassey, and has sub-
sisted and rapidly extended for one hundred years,
is now to vanish in name and form, as it long hap
to a great extent in substance. Let us then hear
the statements of " Injured Innocence"—let us (16
it frankly, and without the interposition of a
single qualification, of an if or a but, of our own,'
let us listen to the pleading of the memorandum
itself. It thus recites the most worthy deeds of
thirty years' administration.
First, then, it says, had not the time been so
short, we would have confined ourselves to what
we have done since our last transformation in
18153 ; but, looking over the lifetime of one
generation, observe what has been accomplished
both for the revenue, and for the natives in relatioL
to it. We could not alter the C.RNWALLI3 per-
petual settlement in Bengal, which, badly as it
has worked, and still works, was arranged with
the best intentions ; yet even there we are laying
hold of every opportunity for bettering or super-
seding the zemindary system. We have at
length, however, ascertained the system most
natural to the inhabitants, and under which
they cultivate most extensively, and pay a
fair revenue without difficulty. The village (Put-
teederee) system is the most ancient and rooted
institution of
in India. social and municipal managemen.
We adopted that system most liberally
in the north-west
provinces ; we carried out
with all the advantage of experience as soon aa=
the Puujaub fell into our hands4,-wdvantages of
we are endea-
vouring to modify by it the
is
the Ryot war system (that by
which each culti-
of
vator a y
pays a
system
directlyitaelf to
wehave
the Government),
soft
softened
the worst
the
latter
asperities, and, in a word, the native cultivators
everywhere, except where Lord CORNWALLIS has
fettered our action, are paying land-tax more
easily and regularly than they ever did before.
As the rule, the tenant can renounce his holding
whenever he likes, but the Company cannot turn
him out ; while he enjoys the full benefit of all
improvements which he makes—" an assurance
which no private tnot Lyon in any country,

in Europe, has obta►ined." Such is the drift and
scope of the land revenue system.

As to opium, the taz is now paid by foreigners ;
and as to the morality of the affair, were we to
throw the trade open we should only extend the
practice of opium eating and smoking, by making
it cheaper ; indeed, we might endanger the spread
of indulgence in the use of the drug throughout
India itself. The salt tax we should be glad to
abolish, but the revenue from it cannot now be
dispensed with ; the duty is practically ♦ery light,
and it is the only tax paid by the community at
large. The Customs we have reformed, and con-
, formed them, as far as possible, to the principles
of free trade ; and the most obnoxious of them,
the transit duties—we have abolished in our own
territories, and are doing all we can to induce
native princes to abolish them too. Sometimes
we have even paid them to do it. Only five per
cmt, ad valorem, is levied on British goods im-
ported into India, and three per cent. as expor►
duties. These are, indeed, admitted defects, and
will be dispensed with as soon as possible.
In the Post-office department we have even out-
done England itself, a letter can be conveyed from
Cape Comorin to Peshawar for three farthing 3,
and the pecuniary results have been satisfactory
too the loss to the revenue being only about
32,0001, The general prosperity of the country
also' has, after all that has been said, been satis-
factory. The exports have risen from about
8,000,000/, in the year 1835, to rather more
than 23,000,0001. in 1856 ; being 188 per cent.
in twenty-one years. In the former year the ex-
ports of cotton amounted bo 98,320,0001b5., and
in the latter year to 237,180,0001b5., an increase
of 141 per cent. The export of rice has so largely
increased that labour can hardly be found to
transport it to the coast ; and during the same
twenty-one years, the imports into India have
risen 4,261,0001. to 13,447,000/. or upwards of
227 per cent., the great excess of exports above
imports being regularly liquidated in silver.

In regard to judicature and legislation, the
existing system in the " Regulation provinces,"
was begun when law reform had not commenced
in England itself, nevertheless, since the
time of Lord WILLIAM BENTINCEI there have been
constant and acknowledged improvements. In
the non-" Regulation Provinces," on the testi-
mony of Sir Jowl' LAwasNcE, "no effort has
been spared to render justice cheap, quick, sure,
simple, and substantial ; every other consideration
has been rendered subordinate to these cardinal
points." (Happy Punjaub ! we must be permitted
to exclaim, on behalf of suitors in Chancery, in
our Ecclesiastical Courts, and some other Courts
too !) Prison discipline has been wonderfully im-
proved ; the profit in the 55 gaols of Lower Ben-
4al amounted in 1856 to 11,0001. The police
much cannot be said for, but its defects are recog-
uised and are in process of amendment ; and, bad
As it is, we have put down Thuggee, almost put an
end to Dacoitee (banditti robbery), piracy has
been suppressed in the Arabian Seas ; infanticide,
Suttee, and Meriah (human) sacrifices have also
been suppressed ; slavery and Vet Begaree (Forced
Labour) have been abolished, and the civil rights
religious converts recognised. The re-marriage
)f widows has been made legal, and the connec-
tion of the Company with the religious ceremonies
Jf the natives put an end to.

We have been accused of neglecting irrigation 1
ind other public works ; but the delapidated
tanks and canals were in that condition when the
territories came into our hands ; while we are fast
emptying the vast Ganges Canal, nearly 900 miles
in length, which will ultimately irrigate land of
the value of 7,000,0001. In the Punjaub and
Scinde irrigation works are in progress ; and thoso
in the Madras Presidency have already yielded a
I splendid per centage. both to Government and the
natives. Roads were unknown under the Mahome-
lan Government. We have constructed the Grand
trunk Road to Delhi, and are carrying it on to
Peshawur : the Great Deccann Road, and the Agra
And EJmbay Road, are in progress, and so
tre many others. Of railways 4,158 miles have
been sanctioned, and interest guaranteed on
23,000,0001. of capital. Three thousand miles of
alectric telegraph lines have also been constructed,
and have proved both remunerative and of invalu-
able service. For education, for the improvement of
he native states, for the relief and civilization of
the smaller oppressed races, much also has been
lone. In a word, such at least is the testimony
1 the memorandum of the East India Company
respecting itself ; the Administration of the
Company has been one of constant and now rapidly
advancing improvement, and if the said Company
be only left alone, say for a quarter of a century,
India, beneath its Government, will become the
ORIENTAL, PARADISE.

The Judges of the Land aro properly accorded
c,he greatest latitude before their judicial conduct
becomes the subject of censure by the public
press ; the almost unfettered liberty of which, and,
when necessary, its unflinching use of that
liberty, tend much to restrain and curb, to the
benefit of Judges tkemselves, their public beha-
viour. Sometimes, kowever, though very rarely,
it happens that a Judge forgets himself, and the
overlooking eye of the public press, and allows
his better reason to be absorbed in first impres-
'ions, which in litigated matters are often
erroneous, because the advocate who has to
open a bad or a *oak case constantly doss his best
St) win the mind of the judge, by enlarging, by
his rhetoric, to a most extreme extent the hard-
;hip on his client, even although that client may
be the person in fault ; a weak judge is thus often
captivated, and unable to throw off the trammels
of the net in which he has allowed his better rea-
son to got entangled.

The foregoing observations are induced by a
ease which yesterday occurred before Vice• Cha-
ncellor KINDEP.SLEY, than whom a more amiable,
kind-hearted man, or a judge more desirous of
doing what is right, does not exist, but which
virtues make hint more easily the prey of a wily
and unscrupulous advocate.

The case to which we allude was one raising the
simple question, of whether or not a purchaser
of property is entitled, either by himself, his
solicitor, or agent, to sea the conveyance of the
property executed by the vendor, and to require
the vendor to attend personally at the completion
of the purchase, and personally receive the pur-
chase money, which rights the Vice-C'aancellor held
that a purchaser has, though admitting that such
was contrary to the almost universal practice, and
also to the convenience of msnkind. The terms
of his judgment were, however, such—and so far
departed from the matters necessary for the deci-
sion of the case—that but for his known and
acknowledged virtues, a necessary inference would
have arisen that he felt great doubt as to the
soundness of his decision, and though in words
satoycinoegrtcheat it
the mightvena bore aapnpdeahliesdsforloi
cmi
t,oern dienatvoosuarbed-
mitting to the decision, and which the solicitor
a
aelaplaeallaernegde
:o strongly to feel that he accepted the
and told the
th© decision judge in open court that
would be
flealfsr onme
c. e
ss
aTrhye
fdoerptairi
e-
ture of the judge from, appealed
a
decision of the case was doubtless caused by the
Atinutage taken of the kindness of his

nature by an unscrupulous advoeate—a weak-

ness which it is the duty of every judge
to guard against, or virtue may be turned into
vice. One point in the case shows plainly how
the judge had lost all judicial capacity. The
application was to restrain an action for breach of
an agreement to purchase property, to which
action the purchaser had, among other things,
pleaded a denial of the agreement, which rendered
it necessary for the vendor to prove the agreement
at the trial, but which being unstamped, could
not be given in evidence without payment of the
duty and a penalty of 101. The vendor's_ coun-
sel, therefore, objected to the reception of the
agreement in evidence before the Vice-Chancellor,
unless the purchaser would withdraw his plea in
the action denying the agreement, so that the
vendor as well as the purchaser might be relieved
from the payment of the stamp duty and the
penalty. The purchaser's counsel evidently so
strongly felt that he had got such improper hold of
the judge's mind that he declined this proposal, say-
ing the agreement was stated in an affidavit made
by the vendor, whose counsel, however, strenu-
ously denied such being the case, and challenged
his opponent to read any such statement from the
affidavit, but which challenge was not ac-
cepted, leading to the unquestionable in-
ference that there was no suoh statement,
and that it was the invention of the advo-
cate of the purchaser. Our readers will doubt-
less think that by this the mind of a judge, if
not wholly lost to all consideration of the real facts
of a case, would have been, to some extent at
least, brought back to its natural state ; but it
had no such effect in this instance ; the judgment
was given without allusion to this point, and the
Judge, when his attention was afterwards called
to it by the advocate of the vendor, said—" It is
stated to me that the agreement is admitted by
the affidavit of the purchaser, which is quite
sufficient."

The public presl has well been called the fourth
estate of the realm it is also a safeguard to the
nation for the propriety of judicial conduct.
When the press was not so free as it is now, the
judgment-seat was not so pure. Vice-Chancellor
KINDERSLEY was formerly a Pvlaster only of the
Court of Chancery, sitting in a private room, free
from the control of the public press ; but he
should not forget that lie is now acting in public,
and open to its praise or censure.

The case is one of very great importance to
every solicitor in the kingdom, and will, wo hope,
receive their attention. If the decision should
not be reversed, they will hereafter be subject to
have imposed on them and their clients much
trouble and annoyance, and on the latter much
unnecessary expense also. The case appears to
have occurred in consequence solely of the advice
to mortgagees in Lord ST. LEONARDS' recent work,
"A Handy Book on Property Law," to pay
money to the mortgage, and not to a person
bringing the deed, although executed and the re-
ceipt signed, unless by the written authority of the
borrower. In the same author's work on "Ven-
dors and Purchasers," he, however, after stating
that purchasers frequently ran considerable risk
in paying the purchase mosey to the agent or
solicitor of the seller upon the delivery of the
conveyance, adds that, of course, if the agent is
duly authorised to receive it, there will be no
risk. The weight to be attached to the passage
quoted from the former work will be easily ap-
preciated by seeing the error there committed of
advising the money to be paid to the mortgagee
instead of the mortgagor.

LATEST NEWS.

MARSEILLES, Fin. 10.

Intelligence from Constantinople of the 3d an-
nounces that Mehemet Bey, having been besieged
in the fort of Jesera by the insurgents of the
Herzegowina, was obliged to capitulate, obtaining
only the favour of his men carrying their arms.
The Turks were making common cause with the
Christians against the irregular troops of the
pachas. A proclamation of the insurgents de-
clares that all they want is the fair execution of
the laws. The commissioner of the Porte had
sent in an ultimatum to Prince Danilo. Further
disasters had taken place in the Black Sea and
Sea of Marmora. Tempests, accompanied by heavy
falls of snow, had lasted nearly a month. The
Turkish population was suffering dreadfully.
England is arming the fortifications of Corfu and
of Zante."

MADRID, FEB. 10.

The Senate has voted the address in reply to
the speech from the throne, by a majority of 91
to 16."

According to letters from Odessa the number of
sailors in the Black Sea is not to be diminished.
As the vessels of war are not to exceed a certain
number, the Grand Duke Constantine has given
orders that all the sailors who were in the service
of Government shall be sent on board merchantmen,
and be subjeoted to the same discipline &3 before.
They are to have the same pay and distinctions
thoy had while on board men-of-war, and, in order
that they may not forget any part of their han-
diwork, " the mercantile vessels are to carry guns."
When Russia has completed her fleet of mercantile
steamers iu the Black Sea, its neutrality will exist
but in name !

The Paris correspondent of the Times (second
edition) says :—" The Moniteur contained the
other day, and simultaneously with its being laid
on the table;of the House of Commons, the despatch
of M. Walewski, suggesting something should be
done in the way of modifying
our laws so as to reach
conspirators. I have not seen the same alert-
ness displayed about the despatch which ex-
presses the Emperor's regret for the language made
use of in the addresses. The Moniteur does
not give it either in its partie officiate or non-
officiale. This is
hardly fair. If it be not given
the army and the people will remain under the
impression that We have lost no time to comply
with the demand to reform our law, and perhaps
that we did so in consequence of the addresses,
but they Will not see that regret has been ex-
pressed by their own Government. lam quite
of the opinion of Sir Lucius O'Trigger, that "an
affront handsomely acknowledged becomes an ob-
ligation ;" but I also think the publication of
M. Wale wski's apologizing despatch would be a
graceful termination to the affair."