The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-04 00:00:00

THE IVEIV INDIAN BILL.

(From the Daily News )

" The affairs of my East Indian dominions will
require your :serious consideration, and I recom-
mend them to your ear est a:tention." Th's was

the injunction laid by the Queen upon her Parlia-
ment when they_ met, at the opening of the session,
on the 3d of last December. Immediate compliance
with the injunction would lilt, however, have suit-
ed the purpose of Lord Palmerston. His lordship
has to obtain the sanction of the Legislature to a
bill for the future government of India, which has
been described by one of his own organs in the press
as such a crude meeeeire as "may arise from the
aberrations of a Parliament talking six months
upon a subject studied hurriedly and without pre-
vious preparation." A piece of legislation of this
kind, it is obvious, will require to be hurried
through Parliament without allowing time to scru-
tinise its defects too narrowly, Hod it been pro-
duced when the Houses first met, members must
necessarily have had a couple of months to study its
provisions before the great debates could come on.
To avoid this Lord Palmerston has, up to the pre-
sent time, kept his own secret. In February Par-
liament will be called upon to ppss an extempore
measure for the government of India. Such in-
decent precipitancy ought, if possible, to he pre-
vented ; and this is the reason why we submit to
the pubic such details of the Ministerial India Bill
as we have been able to glean from various well-
informed quarters. `Jur sketch of its most
essential provisions will, we have not the shadow
of a doubt, I,e found correct. If there is any
inaccuracy in the minor details, Ministers have it
in their power to set themselves right with the
public by putting firth their own vermeil. In this
way our object will yet more fully be attained ; lee
that object is simply to frustrate the re-farioue
attempt to atingle a Bill, lot, nded to revolutionise
the government of India, through Parliament, with
altniirimum of discussion.

We learn, then, from sources on which we have
been accustomed t►► place gi eat reliauce, that by
Lord Palm4•raton's India Bili—

The political affairs of India are to be transferred
to the direct management of a member of the
Cabinet, who, it is understood, shall be a Pt-er,
and in whom all patronage, th one exception—
is to be ve,ted.

This member of the Cabinet is to be President of
a Council to whom simply consultative functions
are to be ent usted ; they are to have neither ad-
miniitrative nor executive powers. The Members
of Council are to be six in number ; and they are
to be chosen in the first instance from the existing
Court of Directors.

The European portion of the Indian Army is to
be greatly augmented, and placed directly and ex-
clusively under the Crown. All regulations and
orders tegarding it will emanate from, all patronage
will be exercised through, the medium of the _Horse
Guards. The Native Army will be confided to the
charge of the local Government an India.
The Indian Services will be kept distinct from
the Home Services, and charged directly and ex-
clusively on the Rovenue of India. _ .

The first consequence of this measure that stares
us in the face is, the immense addition it will make
to the power of the Crown. The European army
of the Crown in India will be withdrawn fiom the
annual supervision and control of Parliament, A
great army of European soldiers will be maintained
in India irrespective of the Imperial Parliament.
The patronage dispensed by the Commander-in
Chief—an officer who has come to be regarded as
the
norse
the more immediate Minister of the Crown, and in-
dependent of and unaffected by the mutations of
Prince of
Consort, the balance of part;es in Parliament—will be enor:
mously increased. It has been generallyunder-
stood that so long as Lord Hardingere
saoirnte,
tv e r
d a a
Guardseia
ed of the m
,:rias submittedary
strong suspicions are entertained that this practice
tthhas not been entirely abandoned every
they
since Lord liar-
dingo's demise. IfParliatnent sanctions the transfer
of the largely increased Eutopi,ao porion of India
to the Horse Guards, the power ,if the Crown in'its
very worst. form—_ hat i
siraintland contt 01 of s, unsubjerted to the re-
rt sp .nsible Ministers--willbe augment-A '
to
_ier., ous t 'tent.
Again, should. L rd Palmerston's India Bill
become law, the influence of the Political Govern-
ment of the day
willbe increased. All the non-
military patronage of
India be placed at its
disposal. Under it theCi'vi will
Civil Service of India will
be jobbed to au extent of whichsome recent objec-
tionable appointments convey but a faint notion.
The Cabinet of the day will be more than compen-
sated for the loss of Colonial patronage consequent
on the concession of self-government tothe Colonies
India will become a preserva for the aristocracy
and their venal tools and dependents • •
in Parliament
and the constituencies.

The measure for the government of India con-
templated by Lord Palmerston is neither more nor