The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-16 00:00:00

the filling up, would of course elect a member in their
interest, so that the directors would have eight members
in the council, and the Government only seven. (Hear.)
Unless the nominees of the Crown, therefore, and the
persons elected by the council came to some amicable ar-
rangement for dying alternately, it would be impossible
to carry out the intention of the clause. (iluch laughter.)
The House of Commons wanted to put an end to the
double government, and to have a single responsible
minister for India. Did they get that under this bill ?
They did not. (Hear.) Under that clause, which was in-
troduced at the last moment, without observation almost
and which was hardly known to the country—that
clause which had just been referred to by the noble earl

opposite, and which he justly described as a clause con-
verting the council into a Parliament—it was impossible
that the Minister for India could be considered as solely

responsible, because ha would not have the sole power.
(Hear, hear.) There was another alteration made at the

last moment, which would also affect the responsibility

of the Minister. It was originally intended that the
Governor-General should nominate the members of the

council in India, but it was now proposed that they
should be nominated by the council here, that was to
say, by a majority. That affected the responsibility of
the Minister. How could he be held responsible when
he could not spend a single shilling without the concur-
rence of the council, a large portion of whom were not
selected by him, but elected by the council ? (Hear,
hear.) The House of Commons, therefore, had not
effected by this bill any of those great purposes which it
had in view. The point with respect to the nomination
of the members of council in India by the Governer-
General bad been greatly misunderstood, for it was sup-
posed that the Governor-General would have the power
of ousting the members of the council when he liked,
and, therefore, of making them his tools. But he could
do no such thing, for they eat for five years, and four
years must elapse before he could make a single nomina-
tion himself. lie was of opinion that every officer em-
ployed in India should look to his own Government to
reward hire for good services. (Hear.) He deprecated
the system of enlisting any man in India who was not
to look to his own merits and his own Government for
promotion, but to his friends in the council here. (Hear.)
This was a principle altogether inconsistent with good
government in India. (Hear.) But he entirely agreed
with the propriety of substituting the Queen's name for
that of the company in the government of India, and
regarded that change as the greatest advantage which
could at the present moment be conferred on the coun-
try. But then it was necessary to consider how to
use that power, for if it was not well used, it would
be used to the injury instead of to the benefit of the
country. He did not deny that there were many parti •
cular advantages in the bill, notwithstanding the errors
which had been committed. Their lordships would re-
collect that in the first bill which was introduced by her
Majesty's Government provision was made for giving
representatives in the council to the military and civil
services in India. That object was absolutely accom-
plished in that bill ; and it must be, at all times, the
object of every Government to do that. No council
would be perfect that did not represent those services.
The Court of Directors, as at present, were notoriously
imperfect in this respect. He understood that there was
no member of the court who was acquainted with the
civil administration of Madras. It was of the greatest
importance that there should he some person in the
council acquainted with the financial administration of
that presidency. The object of the provision in the
first bill was that there should be at all times in the
council some one who should be able to advise the Secre-
tary of State, and give him information on every possible
subject connected with India. He also ,thought it de-
sirable to have representatives who need sot necessarily
be connected with any of the particular services of India,
but connected with large public constituencies, in
the Indian council. Taal constituency represented
50,000,0001. of property connected with India, and
there could not be one amongst them who had not at
least property to the amount of 2,0001. They were 67,000
in number, and any person seeking to represent them
must stand upon his character as much as any cane
didate seeking the suffrages of a constituency in
this country. The bill went even beyond that, for
he felt that it was essential to the good government
of India and to the safe conduct of public affairs in this
country with regard to India, that the council should be
a council of weight and authority, and capable of sustain-
ing and giving assistance to the Minister. There was no
greater public object, there was no greater commercial
object, to be obtained by this country than the making
of England independent of America for the supply of
the staple of her greatest manufacture—(hear, hear)—
and knowing how little had been done for the purpose
of obtaining that object for the last thirty years, be was
desirous of seeing placed in the council representatives
of the great commercial towns which were most inte-
rested in the cotton manufacture, and others who were
connected with the commerce of the country. He was
aware that there would be some difficulty, in the first
instance, in managing these elections of members to the
council, but if the Secretary of State obtained the con-
currence of the representatives of the great towns to his
measures, he would stand in the House of Commons
with a degree of strength which no Minister who ap-
peared there merely with the support of eight nominees
of the Crown and as many nominees of a close corpora-
tion, could possess. What did the present bill propose
It proposed that the council should be composed of eight
members nominated by the Crown, and of seven nomi-
nated by the council, and in order to give them greater
independence, they were to hold the office for life. He
admitted that a man who had a 17 iir property for life was
likely to be more independent than a man who held it
on a more precarious tenure, but it might happen, as it
had happened before, that persons who would not do
their own jobs might be tempted to do the jobs of others.
Tire council, as originally constituted, would be one
with which the public would be perfectly satisfied, but
none of them would b 3 appointed at a very early
period of life. They were dealing, however, with futu
rity, they were endeavouring to establish some settled
form of government for India, and what he would ask
would be the position of the council some ten years
hence, when many of the members must be worn out
and effete r They would be in the position of a conclave
of cardinals when a Pope was about to die. Canvassing
would be constantly going on forthe succession of these
old and respectable men. But the 'House of Commons
had provided that one-tenth of the patronage should be
given by the council to the sons of officers in the service.
We considered that provision to be utterly unnecessary,
because with so many members of the council connected
with India, it would be humanly impossible that they
should not have a much larger share of patronage than
that. But one-tenth was a restriction. The Court of
Directors had always the good sense never to give any-
thing away as a body, because they knew perfectly well
that it would lead to constant jobbing. (Hear.) They
gave their patronage as indiv:duals, and on this principle
for excellent reveille, they had always acted. But
under this bill constant canvassing would be going on
for patronage. These two provisions materially affected
the usefulness of the bill. The noble earl referred to the
clause which retained—for it did no more than that—
that power which was always exercised by the Presi-
dent of the Board of Control of sending letters to the
secret department of the Court of Directors. Now he
spoke from experience, and he admitted that there was
advantage in affording to that secret committee an oppor-
tunity of reading those letters, for though they had not
the power of stopping them, they had the opportunity of
suggesting, which was sometimes very vaiurible. This
power of advising and suggesting was most important ; it
ought to be possessed by the new council ; and the minis-
ter of India ought to attend to those suggestions. As thu
bill stood the Secretary of State might send an absolute
order to India which might affect the question of peace or
war. The noble earl (Granville) had referred to the 55th
clause ; there would be a better opportunity of con-
sidering it in committee ; but ho would observe that
they all seemed to be in error in supposing that the
troops paid out of the revenue of India continued to be
paid out of that revenue when they left the shores of
India and were employed elsewhere. (Hear.) That was
not so ; the pay out of the revenues of India was imme-
diately stopped ; and this regulation would continue
unless the Secretary of State should, in the most scan-
dalous manner, take upon himself to act otherwise. In
the Court of Directors there was always an honest body
to protect the revenues of India against improper
charges. For instance, the expedition to China was paid
out of those revenues while the troops were in India, but
not after they left India. (Hear, hear.) In that case
this country bad the benefit of the expedition, and the
object was not an Indian one. So in the expedition to
Persia ; if India bacl chosen to stand on her rights, she
might have refused to pay a farthing of that expense.
He feared that the operation of the clause as it stood
would be injurious. Another clause provided that
notice should be given of a war, and of the points
against which an army was to be directed ; that their
lordships would see to be impossible. (Hear.) As they
were now dealing with the question of the government
of India in England, it was impossible for him, holding
the strong opinions which he did with respect to the
actual state of that country, not to state the impressions
which had been produced upon his mind by the informa-
tion which they had received during the la-t month. He
never looked forward to the future in India with more
anxiety than he did at the present moment. He felt per-
fectly satisfied that it was absolutely necessary to send to
that country, at the commencement of the cool season, a
very large—a much larger force than it was possible—
with consideration for other and very grave and vital in-
terests, to detach from this country without a material
change in all our military establishments. (Hear.) Much
more : however valuable it might be to wield an increased
strength of troops, he did not believe that that increased
strength would enable us to re-establish peace is that
country, unless we sent with that army a policy intelli-
gible and acceptable. (Hear.) The first act of her Ma-
jesty's Government, when her Majesty assumed in her
own person nominally the direction of the affairs in
India, must be in the most solemn manner (and the
Queen's word must be sacred) to re-assure the people of
that country with respect to their religion and their ter-
ritorial rights. (Hear.) That policy must be, not to please
the Home of Commons, or to please people on the hust-
ings—or, still less, people on the platform ; it most be
addressed to the minds and hearts of the people of
We bad to govern India for India, and not so as to please
a party at home ; and the now Government ought to
make a declaration of the principles upon which it was
to be governed such as might be thoroughly acceptable
and intelligible to the people. But however good the
policy we might declare—however great the additions
wo might make to our armies—those additions and that
policy would fail of their object unless a man was at the
head of the Government of India who had the confidence
of natives and Europeans, who was capable of directing
military operations, and who, by the weight of his per-
sonal authority, which in India was everything, was
capable of compelling all his se lsordinate officers to co-
operate in his policy and to carry all his plans into ope-
ration, (leer, gear.)
Toe laarquis of CLAN RICARDE could not concur in
. all; ' ' 'au fallen from the noble tar loppooite, but he