The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-16 00:00:00

Mr. ROEBUCK, who said that a more important 1
subject than the present had never occupied the atten-
tion of Parliament. The noble lord had stated on the
first evening of the debate that the subjects of the Queen
in India, for whom that House was about to legislate,
amounted to 150,000,000, but he would have been more
accurate and nearer to the truth if he had said that the
number of persons in India under British sway amounted
to very nearly 200,000,000, and that being the case he
thought that he was justified in saying that a more im-
portant question than the present had never been the
subject of consideration of that house. With respect to
the mode in whioh that dominion had been acquired, it
was not his intention to enter into that question, but he
might, perhaps, be allowed to say that he would chal-
lenge opposition, that in acquiring that dominion Eng-
land had broken through almost every rule of morality.
She had, it was true, exhibited great valour and great
intelligence, but not great virtue, and when an hon.
gentleman on the last night of the debate spoke of the
acquisition of that rule as forming one of the brightest
pages in the annals of the history of England he could
only ask him if he bad formed a picture to himself of
that which really constituted a bright page in the annals
of the history of a country. If the hon. gentleman meant
that British troops in India had shown great valour, that
their generals had shown great ability, and that English.
men had shown in all cases wonderful intelligence in
attaining their ends, then he thought that the right hon.
gentleman was right in calling the history of the con-
nexion of England and India a bright page in British
annals. Bat if he meant to say that England had
during that period displayed a regard for the great
principles of morality, that she had been in all cases
faithful to her engagements, that she had shown herself
incapable of receding from her word, then he thought
that the hon. gentleman was stating that which history
would not support. He fer his own part could not consi-
der tat a bright page in the annals of England, although
in it she displayed great valour and intelligence, without
any accompaniment of virtue. He believed, however,
that British rule, obtained even as it had been, might be
turned to great benefit for the people of India. If he
thought that British dominion in India was to be for the
future what it had been during the past, that the people
of India would not obtain any more advantage from the
improved civilisation and the greater morality of the
people of England than they had hitherto done, then he
should consider that we should be justified in departing
from the shores of India, and leaving the Indians to
govern themselves. He believed, however, that as the
morality and intelligence of the people of England was
made to bear upon the English Government in India,
the natives of India would obtain a better system of
government than they had ever yet received. It ap-
peared to him, from a careful perusal of their history
that the people of India were incapable of governing
themselves, and that by bringing to bear upon them
greater intelligence and better morality than they
themselves possessed great benefits would be extended
to them. Such had not been the case bitherto, but he
believed that the first step towards establishing such a
state of things was the bill of the noble lord. (Hear.)
The present question to be determined was two fold—
fires what was the government best fitted for India, and
secondly, whether the present was the right time to
establish it. That was a distinction which had been made
throughout the debate, and, although those gentlemen
who opposed the bill by pressing upon the latter ap-
peared to give up the former part of the argument, he
thought that upon an occasion like the present, when it
was most desirable to obtain the expression of the feel-
ings and of the intelligence of the people of England, it
ilecame the members of that house to go through the
thole of the argument. (Hear.) Now, preparatory to
%he argument which he intended to adduce he wished to
make one or two observations upon the state of India at
present. India, it was to be remembered, was not a
colony, but a conquest. (Hear.) A colony he conceived
to be a body of men sent out from a mother country,
who, settling in some distant place', ti)k with them
there the manners, the language, and the institutions of
the mother country. And, with regard to the 13ritieh
colonies, the best mode of governing. them was to allow
them to govern themselves. Nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury, he was sorry to say, had elapsed since be had first
denounced interference in the affairs of our colenie3,and
he recollected that his suggestions were received with
strong indignation, and that very priecip.e which at
present was the main principle upon which the colonies
of England were governed —namely to allow them to
govern themselves—was received with v. howl of disap-
probation. India, however, as he had said, was not a
colony, but a conquest, and she could not be treated en
similar principles. We had to deal in that country with
a people who were numerous and partially civilised, and
who were quite unable to govern themselves, and there-
fore it behoved them, if they retained dominion in India
to give to that people a government capable of maintain-
ing order, and one whioh would conduce to their welfare
and happiness. It was said by some that we had from
incapacity in ourselves been compelled to allow the
colonies to govern themselves, and therefore that it was
clear that we were unfit to govern India. But tho two
cases were not parallel, India being, as he had said
before, a conquest and not a colony ; and for his own
part he believed that a Government properly established
in India could govern India far better than any which
the people of India could establish for themselves. As
regarded the present state of things in India the history
of that state of things was very remarkable. When
George 111. came to the throne he was, as he thought,
out of his mind, and there was one feeling which pursued
him through life, and which he carried out with all the
canning of insanity. He believed himself to be in danger
of mug treated like certain of the Merovingian kings,
and be expected to be some day shaved and sent to a
convent. And he entertained on that accsunt eelings of
great alarm to
coauptoutrrayu,
ed with the great body of the aristocracy of the
and the treat object of his life, and one which
down the power of the
pertinacity, was to break
and the climax the
great families of
the kingdom,
senting the arrived
aristocrat
when Mr. Fox himself, repre-
Inbody, brought in his India Bill.
That Indian Bill was, as regarded the then knowledge
if the people of Englanwsd, a 0
were wise measure. But the King
ghtterasinsane
beeprett.e y
persuaded the plueoterian
bill,
as the Soverei
) A
tnat therenearly i was great
danger in Mr. Fox's
Power over
the power
i)earvaard.been his
India was to be conferred on the British
A cry was raised against that measure.
own fortune since he had been an •
politics to hear a cry raised about as unwise asoft*PlirtT,
which he was referring, and also to see that cryteat
:-
down. Mr. Fox, however, did not live to see the peopfe
of England oome to their senses as we bad done. This
- was the first symptom of returning sanity on their part
in inward to India. Mr. Pitt, taking advantage of the
cry in England, palmed upon the people through the
Parliament a great " sham." He tol the directors that
he was exceedingly anxious tomaintain their power, and
he brought in a bill which received the
approbation
the thea representatives of the East India Company.of
They showed their wisdom by so doing, for they thereby
lost their whole power over India! That was the -
conse-
quence of having " old Indiarte" to govern India, M
Pitt cajoled them and instituted the Board of Control.'
And what had been the result! The Board of Control
from that time to this bad been the irresponsible gover-
nors of India. " A board," said Jeremy Bentham, "is
a screen !" And so the Board of Control had proved.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer last Friday evening
explained to them with a deal of humour, which coming
that the Court of Directors,
from him told—(laught?r)—
as compared with the Board of Control, were eearly
powerless. And it was quite clear that the real authority
rested with the President of that Board, and that the
only use of the Court of Directors was to take from the
President of the Board ofj Control all the troubled his
eseesr. Tf, director,l
efF.,e, and tO 1839,3 lam ell •
were used as a screen for him whenever anyd thcu,o
occurred. The burden was thrown upon the shoulders of
the Court of Directors, who in turn threw it back as a
shuttlececle to the Board of Control ; while the public,