The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-21 00:00:00

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conceive, entirely owing to the circumstance that the dis-
pensers of patronage have been persons unconnected with
party, and under no necessity of conciliating parliamentary
support; that consequently the appointments to offices in
ju
dgment
of have been, as a rule, left to the unbiassed
of the local authorities ; while the nominations to the civil
and military services have been generally bestowed on the
middle classes, irrespective of po:itic .1 considerations, and
in a large proportion on the relatives of persons who had
distinguished themselves by their services in India.
" That your petitioners therefore think it essentilthae
at least a majority of the council which'assists the Minister
for India, with its advice, should hold their seats indepen-
dently of its apnointment.
" That it is, in the opinion of your petitioners, no less
necessary that the order of the transaction of business
should be each as to make the partici: ation of the council
subject,
unyrbe:b.
jti:t
ahhac:rete:atmlidsi
should
deshitresnr
and
duocenonls
arctodii
tlfaihlneabcnnmeed,fiioowadr
submitted
with
substantial one. Thet to
this end it is in the opinion of your petitioners, indispen-
by
ld
sable that the despatches to India should not be pr pared
council,
aoilu,annt cgt
principle, that persons, chosen for their knowledge of a
t
of merely giving their opinion on Bug eestions coming from
roily:,
thuhaetni
dtsm,hooii
Minister.
Iteoeaubrdse
elsewhere. This is also the only mode in which the mem-
bers of the council can feel themselves sufficiently impor-
tant, or sufficiently responsible, to secure their applying
their minds to the subjects before them. It is almost
unnecessary for your petitioners to observe, that the mind
is called into far more vigorous action by being requir3l
to propose, than by merely being called on to assent. The
Minister has necessarily the ultimate decision If be hss
also the initiative, he has all the powers which are of any
practical naereer,t. A body whose only recognised function
was to find fault would speedily let that function fall into
desuetude. They would fel that their co-operation ill
conducting the Government of India was not really desired ;
that they were only felt as a clog on the wheels business.
Their criticism on what had been decided, without heir
being collectively consulted, would be felt as import-4;PDA;
as a mere delay and impediment ; and their office would
probably be seldom song* but by those wko were willing
to allow its most important duties to become nominal.
"That, with the duty of preparing the despatches to
India, would naturally be combined the nomination and
control of the home establishaients. This your petitioners
consider absolutely essential to the utility of the council.
If the officers through whom they work are in direct de-
pendence upon an authority higher than theirs, all matters
of importance will in reality be settled between the
Minister and the subordinates, passing over the council
altogether.

"That a third consideration to which your petitioners
attach great importance is, that the number of the council
should not be too restricted. India is so wide a field that
a practical acquaintance with every part of its affairs can-
not be foun I combine 1 in any small number of individuals.
The council ought to contain men of general experience
end knowledge of the world, also men specially qualified
by financial and revenueexperiene byjudicial experience,
diplomatic experience, military experience ; it ought to
contain persons conversant with the varied social relations
and varied institutions of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, the
North-Western Provinces, the Punjaub, and the Native
States. Even the present C urt of Directors, reduced as it
is in numbers by the Act of 1853, does not contain all the
varieties of knowledge and experience desirable in such a
body; neither, your petitioners submit, would it be safe to
limit the number to that which would be strictly sufficient
supposing all the appointments to be the best possible. A
certain margin should be allowed for failures, which, even
with the most conscientious selection, will sometimes
occur. Your petitioners, moreover, cannot overlook tho
possibility that, if the nomination takes place by Ministers
at the head of a political party, it will not always be made
with exclusive reference to personal qualifications ; and it
is indispens sble to provide that such errors or faults in the
nominating authority, so long as they are only occasional,
shall not seriously impair the efficiency of the body.
" That while these considerations plead strongly for a
bo ly not less numerous than the present, even if only re-
garded as advisees of the Ministry ; that their office, as a
check on the Minister, forms, your petitioners submit, a
no less forcible objection to any considerable reduction of
the present number. A body of 6or 8 will not bo equal
to ono of 1-; in that feeling of independent self-reliance
which is necessary to induce a public body to press its
opinion on a Minister to whom that opinion is unaccept-
able. However unobjectioxably in other respects so small
a body may be constituted, reluctance to give offence will
be likely, unless in extreme cases, to be a stronger habitual
inducement in their minds than he desire to stand up for
their convictions. _ _

" That if, in the opinion of your honourable house, a body
oan be constituted which unites the above outliner tted re-
quisites of good government, in a greater degree than the
Court of Directors, your petitioners have only to exprees
their humble hope that your endeavours for that purpose
may be successful. But if, in enumerating the conditions
of a good system of Home Government for India, your
petitioners have, in fact, enumerated the qualities possessed
by the pre4ent system, thou your petitioners pray that your
honourable hours will continue the existing powers of the
Court of Directors.

" That your petitioners aro aware that the present
Rome Government of India is reproached with being a
double government, and that any arrangement by which
an independent check is provided to the discretion of the
Minister, will be liable to a similar reproach. But they
conceive that this accusation originates in an entire ells-
enneentinn of tshe funainnsilevnlvincr on the 1-Tnme
applicable to purely executivedepat talents. The Executive
Government of India is, and must be, seated in India itself.
Tho Court of Directors is not so much an executive as a
deliberative body. Its principal function, and that of the
Home Government generally, is not to direct the details of
administration, but to scrutinise and revise the past acts
of the ludian Government—to lay down principles and
issue general instructions for their future guidance— and
to give or refuse sanction to great political measures, which
are referred home for approval. These duties are more
analogue to thelfuactions of Parliament, than tothose of an
executive board ; and it might almost as well be said that
Parliament, as that the Government of India, should be
constituted on the principles applicable to executive
boards. It is considered an excellence, not a defect, in the
constitution of Parliament, to be not merely a double
but a triple Government. An executive authority, your
petitioners submit, may often with advantage be single,
because promptitude is its first requisite. But the film-.
tion of passing a deliberate opinion on past measures,
ant laying down principles of future policy, is a
business which, in the estimation of your petitioners
admits of and requires the concurrence of more judg-
ments than one. It is no defect in such a body to be
double, and no excellence to be single, especially when it
can only be made so by cutting off that branch of it which,
by previous training, is always the best prepared—and
often the only one which is prepared at all—for its peculiar
deity,
" That your petitioners have heard it asserted that, in
consequence of what is called the double government, the
Indian authorities are less responsible to Parliament and
the nation than other departments of the Government of
the empire, since it is impossible to know on which of the
two branches of the Home Government the responsibility
ought to rest. Your petitioners fearlessly affirm that this
impression is not only groundless, but the very reverse of
the truth. The Home Government of India is not less
but more responsible than any other branch of the admi-
nistration of the State; inasmuch as the President of the
Board of Commissioners, who is the Minister for India, is
as completely responsible as any other of her Majesty's
Ministers, and, iu addition, his advisers also are respon-
sible. It is always certain, in the case of India, that the
President of the Board of Commissioners must have either
commanded or sanctioned all that has been done. No more
than this, your petitioners would submit, can be known
in the case of the head of any department of her Majes y's
Government. For it is not, nor can it rationally b 3 sup-
posed, that any Minister of the Crown is without trusted
advisers ; and the Minister for India must, for ouvious
reasons, be more dependent than any other of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers, upon the advice of persons whewe lives
have been devoted to the subject on which their advice has
been given. But in the case of India, such advice& are as-
signed to him by the constitution of the Government, and
they are as much responsible for what they advise, as he
for what he ordains; while, in other departments, the
Minister's only official advisers are the subordinates in his
office, men often of great skill and experience, but not in
the public eye, often unknown to the public even by name ;
official reserve precludes the possibility of ascertaining
what advice they give, and they are responsible only to the
Minister himself. By what application of terms this can
be callea responsible Government, and the joint Govern-
ment of your petitioners and the India Board an irre-
sponsible Government, your petitioners think it unneces-
sary to ask.
" That, without knowingthe plan on which her Majesty's
Ministers contemplate the transfer to the Crown of the ser-
vants of the company, your petitioners find themselves un-
able to approach the delicate question of the Indian army,
further than to point out that the high military qualities
of the officers of that army have unquestionably sprung, in
a great degree, from it being a principal and substantive
army, holding her Majesty's commissions, and enjoying
equal rank with her Majesty's officers, and your petitioners
would earnestly deprecate any change in that, position.
" That your petitioners, having regard to all these con-
siderations, humbly pray your honourable house that youwill not give your sanction to any change in constitu-
tionthe of the Indian Government during the a continuance f
the present unhappy disturbances, nor without full
pre-
vious inquiry into the operation of the
this inquiry
se system.
present
And your petitioners further pray, that hi.
extend to every department of Indian may
administration.
Such an inquiry your petitioners selve
respectfullye claim, not
only as a matter of justice to themselves,
but because
when, for the first time in this century, the thoughts of
every public man in the country are fixed on India, an in-
quiry would be more thorough, and its results would carry
much more instruction to the mind of Parliaments and of
the country than at any preceding period."
Mr. Jorrircs resumed the debate, observing that many
of his arguments and opinions had been anticipated by
the petition just read. (Ilear,haeilaerd.)
thAat the
mis-
apprehension very generally prev
dividends of the East India proprietors were in-
creased by conquests, but were they to double
the revenue of that country the proprietors would not
get a farthing of increase of dividend, and East India
proprietors had no interest in the aggrandisement of
India. (Hear, hear.)
R
disciuraged Christianity in idendiied that the company had
disouraged Christianity in Isdia
facts and circumstancesy i
inn suappor,
taonfdhirsefsetrarteedinteont.mThe
obstruction to rel;gion had not sprung from the lathes of
the East India Company, but from the bloody unwarrant-
able and wholesale murder of the people in the unjust
aggression of territory made at the instance of the Board
-I Control, (Hear.) It had been urged against the
Company that the people of India were reduced to such
a state of poverty, that it was a crime against humanity
that the present system should continue ; and he
denied the statement that had been put forth, that
there were eighteen millions of people living in
Madras at the rate of Id. per head per day. That
India was in an advancing position was shown by the

-_=, APER'
417,
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(61k-refer itd tb the

i~ t~ ~~

progrei- 01 the, re:aLive hoitit4lM
pativcs of the public debt. I !:7114P-.
20,439,870/., and natives 7,225,t9411,1%
la.t returns, Europeans held 21,6'31/
12,000,000/. (Hear, hear.) He the.
public works that bad been carried out in India DIDOS
the establishment of the East India Company, and urged
that, if the Company was to be abolished to-morrow,
the public would have no more power over the
Government of India than they have now. (Hear,
hear, bear.) Questions relative to India were
freely and properly considered: in that Court, and be
defied them to find a larger amount of Indian experience
in any part of the world, save in India, than was to be
found at that board, and be bad beard that in the pro-
posed change those men were to be called upon to form
the Indian Board. (Hear, hear.) He was of opinion
'bat they would discover the antagonism of Eng-
land if they gave to the holders of 100/. stock

the privileges of voting that were possessed t.xe:ueivel;
by the holders of 1,0001. stock. He extolled the
:,do]ini,tratiou of the Councils which hed produced
mot h,ill3ant wa.rior4 and ad►n,irable sta-es►'ert,
When they had revolt iu C -wade, the Cape, Ceylon, and
ether places, the Government had selected the civil
officers of the Company to restore order and get the
Government out of their difficulties ; and in the late
EaQtetn war it was the Company's officer, Lieutenant

801 l r, that turned back the Ruskians ; and, at Kars,
there was C)lonel Lake and Captain Thompson, the
Company's officers, who were the means of saving the
g a rri,on when they were neglected by the home
Government. (Elear, bear.) Lie contrasted such

men with Colonel Anson, who was appointed to the
canamand . f the Lilian ar 0), through the influence of
Prince Albert, an appointment that was an insult to the
people of this country. (Hear.) He bad no objection
to Prince Albert generally. In his own department be
did his duty well—(laughter)—but he objected to his
using his power to influence the Government in appoint.
ing incompetent Commanders-in-Chief. (Hear, hear.)
He then criticised Lord Palmerstou's conduct
with reference to India, during the time he -
lia I been in powe-. Hi 3 appointment of Governors-
General had been most unfortunate, ans his whole aim -
„ad been annexation. He appeared to entertain with
retard to India a similar notion to that Gf Napoleon I
for bringing the whole of Europe under one rule. (Hear,
hear.) In conclusion, be reviewed the government of the
East India C ,rnpany, which, as a whole, had been
a .varitageou-; to the people of India. (Hear, hear.) In
affirming the resolution he thought all would go home
with the conviction that each man had done hie duty.
(Hear, hear.)
Sir LAWRENCE PEEL (director) said that be had no
hostility to the Government or any other leading party.
The que-stion before the Court was one of great import-
ance. It affected the interest of 100,000,000 of the people
of India, the whole people of England, and the Court of
Proprietors. He denied that the East India Company
were a selfish body; and those short-sighted men who
made such charges spoke without reason, and in the
language of folly. It was a rash and false opinion to
say that the East India Government had discouraged
the spread of religion in India. It would have been a
wild scheme to have established a Church in India simi-
lar to that in England, where out of 160 millions there
were not more than some 10,000 Christians. He had
heard with pain—he might t-ay with disgust—the state-
ments that had been put forth that this revnit was a
juiginent from Heaven for the wicked lives of our people
in ludia—(hear)—and he rained his voice in vindication of
their character. Referring to General Anson, he said
that up to the time of his (Sir L. Peel's) leaving India,
General Anson wa4 considered to have performed his
duties well, and he a,,ked the people of England not to
afflict the family of a deceased soldier by making him
the scapegoat for a calamity for which be was not liable.
(Hear, hear.) With regard to the political bearing of
the question, he said that be had not signed the
petition that had been read. He had thought
it prudent not to petition against a measure, the
particulars of which he was ignorant. (Cries of
oh I oh !) If the proposed change in any way
contempl,,ted interfering with what he considered the
ju-.t rights of the East India Company, he should say
that he should object to any such change unless he had
a reasonable assurance that tie thing to be substituted
for that which existed would work better than that
he was about to give up. (Hear, hear.) He
haci not heard yet any scheme proposed that would give
him the reasonable assurance that it would ao work. A
well-considered scheme, that would cause the Board of
C eitrol to work with the Company with more celerity
and sin3erity, and give responsibility, would meet with
his support. He thought the present responsibility
was shared between the Company and the Board of Con-
trol, and when the time came for the consideration of
reforms in this body he hopedthey would bring something
like inure publicity to bear upon their proceedings—
(hear, hear)—so that all might know how every proprie-
tor voted or acted on every question that came before
him. Some such body as this was necessary, and h •
hoped it would be retained in any change that might be
Mr. LEWIN ram that ueiore- toetdwuri, uuusu ckmlis to
a decision on the resolution, it was desirable it should
know what course the Board of Directors meant to pursue

The Cflaiumas'eald that it rested with the Court to
iay wheWei they would proceed with the resolution, or
adopt the petition of the directors.
Mr. CEAWEJEIAT said he could not consent to withdraw
his reiolutioa. He thought it would be better to ad-
journ, Red have the petition printed for the considera-
tion of the proprietors.

. .
The CHAIRMAN—I think it is too early to adjourn
now.

Several gentlemen rose to order and proposed an
adjournment, in the midst of which Mr. Dickenson,
who had been interrupted in addressing the meeting, said
that if they would hear him he would tell them what
the Government scheme was. Re stood on a form to
address the proprietors, with his back to the chairman,
for which he was called to order and informed it was
not a meeting of railway shareholders. He proceeded
to address the meeting, reading extracts from an article
recently published in the Edinburgh Review on India,
which he said might be taken as the view of the Govern.
merit, as the work was edited by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
Mr. Litwitr, by way of saving time, informed Mr.
Dickenson that everybody read the Edinburgh .Revieui,
but the hon. proprietor declined to take the hint.
Mr. DICKENSON continued to read on, bat in such a
heavy style, and so inaudible, that it was impossible to
understand him, and a large number of proprietors left
the Court and the hon. proprietor to the enjoyment of
the Ediniurgh, Bevies.. He shortly after concluded, and
announced to the Court that he should support the
resolution. .

Captain EASTWICK (a director)—The hon. director who
bad left the court bad said that they ought to wait until
they bad the details of the proposed measure before them
before they proceeded to take any step against it. He
thought they were already sufficiently acquainted *ith
the basis of the measure, viz., the abolition of what was
called the double government, which meant the abolition
of all check on the absolute power of the minister in the
Government of India. There was no necessity for wait-
ing for further information on that subject.
Mr. LEWIN rose to order, and submitted that as they
were in tact diicuzsing Mr. Orawshay's motion, it was
out of order to deal with the subject of the petition.
(" Ob," and cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN having decided that the speaker Was
in order,

Captain EASTWICK resumed—l trust I may be per.
mitted to offer a few observations on the important
subject now under consideration. I am very glad that
this opportunity has been afforded us of expressing our
sentiments, anl I rejoice t.) think from the large attend.
ance of the proprietors that the gravity and magnitude
of the question are fully appreciated. There is no doubt
in my mind that if the proprietors have anything to say,
now is the time to make themselves heard throughout
the country. I know it is the opinion of some that we
ought to have waited until the details of the measure
which the ministry intend to propose to Parliament are
before us; but surely we know enough to justify us in
taking our stand. We know tihnatfatcht, the
theb asiseiotfinthe
i: o
pr o•
the .
posed measure is the abolition of what is termed the
mercantile and
f organic
factory
change
been
'every
check upon the absolute
will
of
an the
insignificant ministers,
India
which,
dreusbbeleelanscesto government, whs
cothne
present
nt system
for power,
governing of h
ev is,
con.
verted into a magnificent empire thatry
has
•
as
in
; system which
has for a period of more than 70 years from time to time
undergone the severest scrutiny and investigation, but
still has been perpetuated by successive parliaments. No
one can deny that it is anomalous—that it has disadvan-
tages which are likely to be exaggerated by superficial
observers ; but with all its anomalies with all its disad-
vantages, it has commended
to the wisdom and ap-
proval some of our greatest statesmen, and there must
be of
counterbalancing advantages, or it never would have
pa=sed untouched through so many searching ordeals.
Four years have not elapsed since it was again renewed,
and again ratified by parliament, after duo inquiry and
investigation. It certainly, therefore, doesseem a strong
measure to propose to abolish it without any inquiry,
without any investigation. Let me not be misunder-
stood. Ido not for a moment assert that no improve-
ment can be made in the system. We live in an age of
progress. We must advance, we cannot stand still. All
our institutions must be adapted to an increasing intelli-
gence and enlarged experience. Many of those who have
thought most deeply on the subject feel strongly that our
government in India is still an experimental one. The
late terrible events have demolished many theories and
upset many preconceived ideas, and if tl.ey have taught
any levon, it is more especially a lesson of caution and
prudence in jumping hastily to con elusions about a cons ry
and people concerning whose habits, customs, and feel-
ings we have clearly much to learn. There is no dcibt
that great and radical changes must take place in our
system of administration in India if we wish to preserve
our empire. If it can be proved after proper investigation
that the system of government at homehas,been the cants:
of the defects that have been made patent by the la
troubles in India, or if it could be shown thate tbreereeeni:
not sufficient vigour, sufficient vitality. in "'jib/Po:ad,
system to carry out the change:, on
wtobibe no hesitation in
required in India, then there oug
Personal, PAM' emu
rests pett.i; th eosoleum
remodelling the system. .
o comparison with .
ll
fall into insignificance i....a, I
euppese few
wi
Ten.
tone a question. .I 3
anagement of affairs in
so women if the in
ture to assert that even