The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-06 00:00:00

THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

NATAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The following reinforcements, selected from the
let, 2d, and 3d battalions at Chatham garrison are
ordered to embark at Gravesend this day on board
the East India Company's steamer Benares, for
Kurrachee, for the purpose of augmenting the corps
serving in India, viz. :-51 men of the 7th Royal
Fusiliers, 21. men of the 27th Enniskillens, 51 non-
commissioned officers and men of the 52d Light
Infantry, Ensign Arthur E. Flood and 18 men of
the 61st Regiment, 14 men of the 70th Regiment,
Capt. W. Egerton Todd and 19 men of the 81st
Regiment, and Ensign Caulfield French with 30
men of all ranks of the 94th Regimeht.

In consequence of several cases of small-
pox having broken out among the troops
belonging to the 23d Royal Welsh Fusi-
liers, who embarked on board the Abeona at
Gravesend for Calcutta, all the men of thot corps
have bees disembarked and returned to the depot
at Chatham, where they will be stationed until the
disease has disappeared.
General Sir Ralph Darling, G. C. H., C.lonel of
the 69th Regiment, died on Friday at his residence
at Brighton, at the advanced age of 83 years. He
as
entered the army in May, 1793, ensign in the
45th Foot, with which regiment he served in the
West Indies until the peace of Amiens. Soon aft€ r
his arrival there the slaves in the island of Granada,
assisted by the French from Guadeloupe, revolted
and murdered the Governor and many of the prin-
cipal inhabitants, when he was called upon with his
regiment to quell the insurrection. In 1797 he
volunteered in the expedition against Trinidad, and
was present at the destruction of the Spanish ships
of war, and was at the surrender of that island, and
in June, 1799, proceeded with the expedition
against the Dutch settlement of Surinam, and was
employed in the arrangements for the capitulation
and present at the surrender of that colony. In
April, 1801, he accompanied the expedition against
the Danish and Swedish islands of St. Croix, St.
Thomas, St. Martin, and St. Bartholomew, and
was present at their reduction. The deceased was
placed on the Staff in 1806, but in Sept., 1808, his
regiment (the 51st) being ordered on active service
iu Spain, he resigned his Staff employment as As-
sistant-Adjutant-General, and took the command
as Lieutenant-Colonel of that regiment, and joined
the army in the Peninsula under General Sir John
Moore. He was under that distinguished General
at the advance and retreat, the action at Lugo, and
the battle of Corunna, after which he returned
with his regiment to England. In the following
year, July 1809, he was appointed Deputy-Assist-
ant-Adjutant-General to the force sent to the
Scheldt under the Earl of Chatham, and was pre-
sent at the siege and surrender of Flushing. On
his return he resumed his Staff duties at the Horse
Guards, which he fulfilled up to 1818, when he was
appointed to command the troops at the Mauritius,
a command he held for five years, and for 18 months
of which he administered the civil government of
that colony. In 1825 the gallant deceased was ap-
pointed Governor-in Chief of New South Wales and
Yan Diemen's Land, and for six years commanded
the troops in those dependencies of the British
Crown. In 1835 he was nominated a Knight Grand
Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order,
The gallant General in September, 1857, had the
colonelcy of the 41st (the Welch) Regiment of Foot
conferred on him, which he retained until February,
1848, when he was removed to that of the 69th (the
South Lincolnshire) Regiment, which becomes at
the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief. Sir Ralph
had received the gold medal for his services at Co-
runna. His commissions bore date as follows :
Ensign, May 15, 1793: Lieutenant, Sept. 2, 1795;
Captain, Sept. 6, 1796 ; Major, Feb. 2, 1800 ;
Lieut.-Colonel, July 17, 1801; Colonel, July 25,
1810; Major-General, June 4, 1813 ; Lieut.-Ge-
neral, May 27, 1825 ; and General, Nov. 23, 1841.
We unfortunately mentioned the services of the
wrong officer yesterday in reporting the retirement
of Major Travers, the barrackmaster for 45 years of
Portsmouth garrison ; but as there have been 37
" fighting Travers" in the services, several of whom
are living, the error is excusable. The gallant offi-
cer whose services we mentioned yesterday is the
barrack.matter of Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. Major
Travers, of Portsmouth, served the campaign of
1799, in Holland, as a Lieutenant, and was severely
wounded in the body in the action near the Helder
on the 27th of August. He was present when the
enemy under Marshal Brune were defeated in their
attack on the British lines on the 10th of Sept. ;
be was also present at the battle of the 19th of
Sept., and that of the 2d of Oct. at Berghen (and
wounded), together with the actions of the 6th and
10th of Oct. The Major is in the receipt of a mili-
tary pension in consequence of the severe nature of
his wounds. On his retirement Major-General the
Hon. Sir S. Yorke Scarlett, K. C. 8., Lieutenant-
Governor of Portsmouth, issued a district order,
expressing his sense of the uniform propriety with
which Major Travers had discharged his duties, and
the great benefit which had accrued to the service
from the unremitting attention which had marked
his career.

The D battery of the Royal Artillery, which has
been for some time stationed in Leeds, left that
town yesterday morning for Woolwich.
Major Newton's G troop of Royal Horse Artillery
yesterday morning assembled on parade at Wool-
wich in heavy marching order, and underwent a
final inspection by Gen. Williams, preparatory to
departure for Dublin. Immediately after inspec-
tion the troop commenced their first day's march
for Highgate, under orders to reach Liverpool on
the 21st. They were escorted to the precincts of
the garrison by the General and staff, and were
preceded by the mounted band belonging to the
corps. The following officers accompanied the
troop, Major H. H. Newton, in command ; Second
Captains Wilkinson and Sandilands, and Lieu-
tenats Brown and Sandham. The G 1 troop has
been in existence little more than three months
having been organised and established in December
last. General Williams likewise attended the
" guard mounting" parade, and afterwards in-
spected the brigade of Horse Artillery on Woolwich
common.

The troopship Golconda arrived at Woolwich
yesterday morning for the embarkation of troops
and ammunition for the East. The freightship
Birch Grove commenced shipping war stores yester-
day from Woolwich for Hongkong.

BILL.

(Front he Morning Herald.)
We proceed to redeem our pledge of instituting
a comparison between the two India bills submitted
to Parliament by Lord Palmerston and the Earl of
Derby. Both contemplate the same end, but the
means of arriving at this are different. The East
India Company are to be deposed, and the govern-
ment of the territories over which they hold sway
is to be vested in the Crown. In both plans a
council is to be established for the future direction
and management of the affairs of India. Accord-
ing to Lord Palmerston, the council is to consist of
a president and eight members : according to Lord
Derby, of a secretary of state and eighteen mem-
bers. It is objected to both schemes that each
contains the vicious element of divided responsi-
bility, the council being a screen for the president
or secretary of state, in the same sense as the East
India directors were a screen to the Board of Con-
trol. It may be asked of those who reason after
this fashion whether there is any individual fit to
be trusted with the government of 180 millions
of people, speaking 75 languages or dialects, and
scattered over a territory containing 1,300,000
square miles. Were any such man to present
himself, and volunteer to undertake a task so ardu-
ous, most competent persons would pronounce him
disqualified on account of the excess of his egotism.
No other argument need be adduced to show the
necessity of the chief of the department being
assisted by able advisers. Whether the preferable
number should be eight or eighteen is entirely
one of degree, to be regulated by a comprehen-
sive review of all the circumstances of the case ;
but if it be maintained as a principle that com-
plete responsibility can only be secured where
supreme and uncontrolled power is lodged in
the hands of a single individual, then both Lord
Palmerston and Earl Derby must be equally con-
demned, since both their plans involve a departure
from unity.
The eight members of council, in the measure
proposed by Lord Palmerston, are to be chosen
from persons who have been directors of the East
India Company, or who have been for ten years at
least in India, in the service either of the Crown or
of the Company, or who have resided at least 15
years in India. It eppears strange that the selec-
tion of the future council should be made from
the directors of a company which this bill is ex-
pressly designed to extinguish. They are con-
demned, and still they are to be trusted. If they
are not fit to rule how are they qualified to advise?
A residence of 15 years in India is certainly a strong
presumption in favour of local knowledge, which ie
the basis of official aptitude ; but it is a serious de-
fect in the plan that the range of choice should be
so narrowly restricted. Athough old Anglo-Indians
may be fully conversant with. the wants and wishes
of the natives, it is highly probable they may have
contracted inveterate prejudices,land Lord Palmer-
ston has not provided any check. In this respect
his scheme lacks comprehensiveness. It may be
presumed that his council would be all of one mind
and view all subjects through one medium, and
this unanimity would be fatal to the extension and
sifting of ideas. Debateable topics ought to be dis-
cussed with a combination of European and Asiatic
minds, but the former element is excluded.
We will now place in contrast the composition of
the council recommended by the Earl of Derby. It
has already been stated that it will consist of eighteen
members, nine of whom are to be nominated by the
Crown, while nine are to be elected by constituen-
cies ; but as the Crown will only be able to choose
out of classes clearly defined, and possessing certain
qualifications, Mr. Disraeli declated, with truth,
that the whole council would consist of " represen-
tative men." It has been objected by professing
Liberals that a body partly nominated and partly
elected cannot work well together, but no reasons
have been assigned for such a decision. It is simp!),
captious, and is here only noticed to be dismissed,
for the combination is plainly in harmony with the
usage of the constitution, since an elected House of
Commons and an hereditary peerage, the latter
derived originally from Royal nomination, are co-
equal and co-ordinate institutions, and form the
common council of the realm ; while experience has
shown that their united action, so far from throw-
ing the machinery of government out of gear, pre-
vents disturbance and maintains order. It may be
that the querulous Whigs, aware of the frivolity
of their argument, have been induced to urge it
from vexation at the Conservatives having intro-
duced the elective element into the construction of
the Indian Council. Any recognition of that prin-
ciple by the Conservatives must be to them! gall and
wormwood, for their past ascendancy was gained by
falsely describing their opponents as sworn enemies
to popular rights and rational progress. That de-
lusion has nearly passed away, and if it still linger
on the minds of any earnest and candid politicians,
we would recommend them to read. carefully and
compare Lord John Russell's " Essay on the Bri-
tish Constitution " and Mr. Disraeli's " Coningsby"
and "Sybil."
In our first remarks on the two India bills we
expressed it as our opinion that the test of their
relative merits was, which of the two was better
adapted to confer benefits on the natives of India
without injury to the rights and liberties of Eng-
land. Under that view, let us inquire into the qua-
lifications required in the nine members of the
council to be nominated by the Crown. It is made
a condition absolute that they shall kayo resided in
India, and there been employed either in the civil
or military service. Here, then, at once, is a gua-
rantee for official aptitude, while none is afforded
in the plan of Lord Palmerston. The Noith
Western Provinces, Lower Bengal, Madras, and.
Bombay, will each have one representative mem-
ber in council, and no person is to be eligible un-
less he has been engaged in the civil service fur
ten years within the territories designated. It is
plain that such an arrangement must be beneficial
to the natives of India, since gentlemen so selected
must be perfectly familiar with their wants and
wishes, able to point our grievances and •defecte,
and recommend appropriate remedies. The fifth
member must also have resided ten years in India,
in the service of the Government of India, and
during five years at least of such period have
served as political agent or resident in some one or
more of the native States. This is a most im-
portant condition, and were we to move an
amendment it would not be against the prn-
ciple involved, but in favour of its extension, for
two such representatives might be preferable to
one. It may be well hero to observe that the native
princes of India still govern with more or less
authority, over 717,000 out of the 1,201,000 square
miles which form the area of Hindosten, and rule
53,000,000 of the inhabitants. They are our allies,
the relariens between us and them being either
,übsidiary or protective. We have bound them
down strictly to the exclusion of Europeans and
Americans from their service. By the terms of
alliance the native states relinquish the right of
self-defence and that of maintaining diplomatic re-
la'ions among each other or with foreign nations,
while the erbitrement of all disputes among each
other is vested in the Company as the paramount
power. The aggregate revenue of the native princes
(at least before the annexation of Oude) was ten
millions sterling, and they paid one-tenth of that
sum as tribute to the British Government, besides
being bound to maintain a military contingent of
32,311 men, commanded by British officers and
available, on demand, by the Company. Their
collective military resources are estimated at 12,962
artillery, 68,303 cavalry, and 317,653 infantry—a
grand total of 398,918 men.
These facts abundantly prove the sound judg-
ment of Lord Derby in providing that one of the
members of the council should be familiar with the
usages of the native courts and the general character
of their princes. The qualification of the sixth
member is to have served for five years at least in
her Majesty's army in India ; while the seventh,
eighth, and ninth members respectively must have
served for ten years at least in the Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay armies. A distinction is here
made which perh'sps will be reconsidered, for
unless some special reasons can be adduced it
does not appear equitable or expedient to require
only five years' service from a Queen's officer, and
ten years from the officers of the company. On the
whole, however, it is difficult. to believe that any
unprejudiced
politician can raise a valid objection
to the mode of appointing the first nine members of
the council, or to the qualifications required from
them ; moreover, with most honourable and unre-
served frankness; Mr. Disraeli has announced to
Parliament the names of the nine gentlemen who
will be the first nominated. We shall enter more
fully into the merits of the elective portion of the
plan on an early day.

Hia ExcePency Count de Platen, Swedish Minister
to the Court of Stare Tames, visited Portsmouth yes-
terday to inspect tie dockyard, (te. ; having been
himself in the navy his Excellency takes much in-
terest in such establishments!. Admiral Sir Geo.
Seymour, the Commander-in-Chief, entertained
the Count and his suite at the Admiralty-house.
Her Majesty's ship Blenheim, 60, Captain Fran-
tis Scott, C. 8., was taken out of the basin at Ports-
mouth yesterday, and will now receive her crew
from their bulk. She will proceed to her station
(embraced in the cruising ground from the Isle of
Wight to Salcombe) shortly after.
The Renown, 91, Captain Forbes, the Diadem,
31, Captain Moorsom, C. 8., the Curacoa, 31,
Captain Mason, and the Racoon, 21, Captain
Paynter, at present at Spithead, are expected to
put to sea in a few days, and another or two are re-
ported to join them, for a cruise to test their respec-
tive merits as far as Lisbon, where they will ren-
dezvous in time to honour the marriage of the King
of Portugal with a salute, &c.
An Admiralty order has been received at Chat-
ham dockyard. by Captain G. Goldsmith, C. 8.,
directing that the pay of the seamen riggers em-
ployed at that establishment he increased to 1/. per
week.

Henry W. Molowworth has been appointed assis-
tant paymaster to the Euryalus ; John A. P.
Williams, clerk, to the Urgent; and Cuthbert B.
Hod ham, clerk, to the Exmouth.

[A DV ERTISEMSN TA—Holloway's Ointment and
—An Unparalleled Cure of a 'Rad Leg.—F. 13ird, gar-
dener, 50, Georgex-grove, Holloway, wag afflicted for
;
20 years with a bad leg, caused by a blow on the shin,
which ultimately formed itself into an angry wound • be
consulted several medical men, and tried almo,at every-
thing recommended him by sympathising Mena% with-
out effect. As a lastiresource, be determined to, give
Holloway's Ointment a trial, and, after persevering for
a. few months, was completely cured, and now enjoys the
best of health.—Sold by all Medicine Vendors through-
out the world ; at Professor Holloway's Establishment,
244, Strand, London ; by A. Stamps, Constantinorle
A. Guidicy, Smyrna; and E. Muir, Malta.

THE AUSTRALIAN POSTAL SERVICE.—A return show-
ing the time occupied by the Australian mail steamers in
their voyage out and home has been printed, on the
motion of Mr. Macartney' M.P. In the Suez and
Sydney services there are five steamers of 1,533 to
2 754 tons, and of 300 to 750 hone-power. Two—the
Emeu and the Simla —arechartered. To the Oneida new
inachineryis being fitted ; and the Tasmania is prepar-
ing for sea (not yet surveyed by the Admiralty). Last
year it appears that the Emeu was four days behind
tim3 on the voyage out (penalty 5001.) The Etaa and
European (which divided the voyage between South-
ampton and Alexandria an I Suez and Sydney) so
managed as to have a default of nearly nine days, for
which 1,8001. penalty was levied. The Tamar and Colum-
bian were, in the same way, seven days in arrear on
the whole of the outward voyage, and • 1,4001, was the
6ne imposed. In the joint voyage of the Juts and Simla
11 day was saved, and a premium of liol. was paid ; on
the home ages from Sydney there were two failures ;
in one, where 11 days were lost, 3,3001. w.s ampose I ;
and in another, although the voyage was performed two
days within the time, 2001. was abated from the contract
as penalty, in consequence of a delay at Alexandria.
In two other cases there was an excess of five days
and one day, tint the penalties will not be deduc ed
until the next quarterly payment. In the case of the
failure cf the wail from Suez to Sydney by the
dent to the Emeu, the penalty will be deducted in
(From the Morning Chronicle) Cie same way. A eorre-pondence betw,en the
Her Majesty'd Opposition have at length made E iropean and Australian Mail Company, the R yal
up their minds what to do about the proposed urea- Mail Steampacket C.impaoy, and the Go werameet of
sure for the Government of India. They intend to her Moj -sty, in reference to the arceilgama.'ion cf tn,e
run through Palmersl on's scheme against Lord aid companies, and for the future performance of mail
Ellenborough's bill. The former, as it happens,
,crvices to and from Australia, the West d
stands for a second reading on Thursday, the 22d
South America. The Royal Mail Company apprised the
inst., that day having been fixed by the noble lord Admiralty on the 14th JAIL last that they had ace -3i ted
himself prev.ously to the introduction of the tenders for two paddlewheel steamers of iron, of 3,000
nisterial measure. The latter takes nearly a week's
tthonesoaand 800 horse-goer;w andof fora third steamer of
Led powery fr s sea d i
n 8 'z9'
twenty all
months w
from
theym h
the
hoped o to
precedence precedence on the notice-paper, the second in readct have ;
being appointed for Friday week, April IG. Some the contract wi h the Government; these steamers a'e
Parliamentary contrivance will, however, easily for the West India Transatlantic mail service. One
get over this technical difficulty, and place the two iron steamer of 1,000 tons and 250 horse-power is to be
bills side by side before the House of Common, built by the same company for the mail service between
for discussion and judgment ou their its. Rio de Janeiro and the River Plate. The contract of the
Acceptance is challenged for Lord Palmerston's Royal Mail Company has been extended to the Ist of
proposition by the partisans of the late Minister,' January, 1864, and the acceleration of the Brazil rout
chiefly on two grounds. First, that it has already is to commence on the 9th of May ensuing. A copy of
as they allege, received the sanction of a large ma- a supplemental contract in November, 18§7, relative to
tho Australian mails is also printed.