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

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the wool-
sack at five o'clock.
Lord LANESBOROUGH presented a petition from
the Protestant Dissenters of Leicester in favour of legalis-
ing marriage with a & ceased ster.
The Ear! of DONOUGHMORE presented similar
petitions from Trowbridge, Downton, Devizes, and
Limply Stoke.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. BILL.

Tile Earl of ALBEIIA.RLE gave notice of his in-
tention to move an amendment in the 56th clause of

the Government of India Bill

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a petition
from the East India Company, against the Go-
vernment of India Bill. The noble earl said
he did not concur wi'h the prayer of the petition.
Tee Earl of DERBY—In rising, my lords, to move
the second reading of this bill, I cannot but express the
deep regret which I feel that this task should have de-
volved on me rather than on my noble friend and late
colleague, whose intimate knowledge of everything con-
nected with Indian affairs would have enabled him to
speak with a weight and authority which certainly I can-
not command. But my noble friend, unfortunately, is
no longer a member of her Majesty's Government, and
it therefore becomes my duty to state to your lordships,
as shortly and as clearly as I can, the main principles
and provisions of the bill to which I ask you to give a
second reading this evening. Without a' tempting in
the slightest degree to derogate from the importance of
the measure, I cannot conceal from myself that a far
greater degree of interest and attention has been at-
tracted to it than would perhaps have been called forth
by its intrinsic impel-tame, in consequence of the poli-
tical circumstances which accompanied its progress
through the other house of Parliament. (Hear.) This
additional advantage, however, has accrued from that
circumstance, that the bill has received a greater degree
of care and of patient investigation in the other house
than possibly it might otherwise have obtained. I must
in the first place say that I think that the title of this
bill is perhaps open to the charge of being somewhat of
a misnomer—" A bill for the better Government of
India." It is a bill, my lords, the result of which I hope
may tend to the better government of India ; but it can-
not be too often repeated that the government of India
must on the whole be carried on and conducted in India
itself. (Hear, hear.) This bill does not pretend to deal
with all those vast, complicated, and difficult questions
which in the next few years no doubt will seriously en-
gage the anxious consideration of Parliament and of the
country. It does not pretend to deal wih the revenue,
with the finance, with the land regulations, with the con-
dition of the natives with the possibility and extent of their
admission into the public service of the country even
after this unhappy revolt shall have been suppressed. It
does not profess to deal with any of those great and ex-
tensive questions ; and though doubtless at future periods
they will engage the attention of Parliament, and though
Parliament will feel it probably its duty to lay down broad
principles of action with regard to most of them, yet your
lordships cannot but be of opinion that the less the inter-
ference of Parliament with the details of the government
of India, the greater prospect there is of the happiness
and contentment cf the people of In fie. (Hear.) I need
not remind your lordships that at the commencement of
the present session the late Government announced their
intention to legislate with regard to the affairs of India.
Without entering into any question of the merits of the
particular legislation which they proposed, I certainly
was of opinion that the time in which we were engaged
with all our force in endeavouring to suppress a serious
revolt was not the most convenient for legislating upon
such a subject. But that opinion—although it was
shared in by many persons—was overrelsd by a very
large majority of the other hones ; for, when a right
hon. -Mend of mine thought it his duty to take the some-
what unusual course of moving that leave should be
given to introduce the bill, on the express ground that
It was not the time for legislation—thus especially pre-
venting his motives from being misconstrued, and his
opposition from being regarded as directed against any
of the provisions of the measure—a majority of I believe
about two to one, in a tolerably full house, decided that
it was expedient and desirable that a bill for the regula-
tion of the home government of India should be intro-
duced in the course of the present cession ; and you will
observe that this bill is not in fact for the "government of
India," but fur the improvement of the machinery by
which, in this country, Indian government may he su-
perintended and controlled. In consequence of that
decision the noble viscount lately at the head
of her Majesty's Government introduced a mea-
sure to carry into effect those views. Very shortly
after that circumstances occurred which caused the
resignation of the noble viscount, and the consequen t
change of Government. In several of the provisions of
the bill of the late Government—indeed, in most of
them—l, and those with whom I have the honour to
act, cur daily concurred ; but there were at the same
time provisions of no minor importance on which we
held entirely opposite opieione. It then became a ques•
tion with us whether we should proceed with the bill of
the noble viscount, and propose in committee snob
amendments as we might think necessary. But it was
the opinion rf her Majesty's servants that a measure of
such vast importance, regulating the machinery for
superintending the Government of India, ought to be
conducted and carried through—not by any private
member, but on the responsibility of the Government as
a whole. Tt3 consequence of that wee, that under the
auspices of my noble friend (the Earl of Ellenborough)
a bill was introduced and laid upon the table shortly be-
fore the Easter recess. In the course of the observa-
tions which I shad have to make it may be my duty to
contrast some of the provisions of that bill and of the
bill now before your 1 Tdships with those of the inea•
sure introduced by the late Government ; 'out at present
I shall only say that the course which, we pursued—
although I think it was the necessary and proper course
—had this inevitable conse quunce :—that there being as
it were two rival bills n the table of the House of Com•
mons there might, in the then state of political excite•
ment, occur this unfortunate result, that the house would
be called upon to decide between those bids, not with
regard to their respective merits, but with re and to the
persons and parties by whom they were introduced ;
and that, consequently, the affairs of India, which re-
quired the most careful and dispassionate consid ration
of Parliament, might be made—what I wa• most anxious
to avoid—a battlefield for contending political par:iee.

(Hear.) In those circurns!ances the noble lord the mem-
ber for London made a suggestion, which wa., I think,
as wise and patriotic as it wes certainly just and concilia-
tory, and it tended to relieve Parliament from what might
have been a very serious embarrassment. Lord J. Rus-
sell suggested—and the Government at once adopted the
suggestion; indeed, to a certain extent it bad already
been anticipated by us—that, instead cf proceeding to
match as it were one bill as a whole against the other, we
should enable the house to consider one by one in com-
mittee resolutions the principles of which were involved
in each, and out of those resolutions to frame a measure
which might receive the sanction of the Legislature.
The Government, therefore, acting on that suggestion,
prepared a series of resolutions, which were submitted
seriatim to the coneideratiou of the House of Commons;
and it is only doing that house the barest justice to say
that, during the whole of my experience in Parliament,
I have never known a question which has been treated
by that house with more patience, with more deliberate
attention, with, greater temper, and with more entiro ab-
seuce on all sides of party feeling or acrimonious discus-
sion; and the result of that course of proceeding is that
there has been sent up to your lordships' house a mea-
sure—not carried by a bare majority, not depending for
its success upon this or upon that political party, but a
measure to a great extent the work of the House of
Commons itself, and to which all parties concurred in
giving their tribute of praise, Lord Palmerston uniting
with Lord J. Russell, in according to the third reading,
not his hesitating but his cordial approval, and expres-
sieg his wishes for its success before your lordships'
house. (Hear, hear.) I now proceed very shortly to lay
before your lordships the principles and chief provisions
of this bill. The noble earl who rose immediately before
me has presented a petition. in the prayer of which he
does nut concur, from the East India Company, praying
to be heard by counsel against the preamble and vari-
ous clauses of the bill, I Paso to speak with every respect
of the East India Company, and I am bound to say
that, during the long period which they have admini-
stered the affairs of India, they have exhibited a degree
of temper, an impartiality, and a sense of the great and
important functions which they had to discharge, which
could not be surpassed; but at the Fame time I cannot
admit that the East India Company have upon a ques-
tion of this kind any claim to be heard by counsel be-
fore your lordships' house. The East India Company
have been to the present moment tru-tees for the Crown,
and though from vat ions periods—front 1813 to 1833,
and from 1833 to 1853—that trust, under special limita-
tions, was continued for a period (420 yeers, yet in 1853
Pathament took a different course and coal fed the same
trust to them simply during the pleasure of Parliament.
Clearly, then, from that moment the East India Com-
pany were tenants et will, whom you were perfectly
free to dispossess whenever Pariiamert might think that
the time had come to deer, ve teem of their trust and to
confer it directly upon the Crown itself. My noble frtei.,i
whom I sec opposita tete presented another petition with
regard ta the possible diminution of tbo security which
the proprietors and I),rectore of the Erst "India Com-
pany may have under this bill for the payment of their
dividends. All I can say upon this subject is, that the
clauses in this bill which provide for that security are the
same as were introduced into the bill. of the late Govern-
ment, upon the advice I presume of the hon. and learnen
gentleman wbo has now given an opinion that they are
not sufficient for the purpose. If it can be shown, how-
ever, that there is the slightest diminution of the security
of the shareholders I shall be ready to consider any pro-
position that can be made for increasing that security and
I believe tbat the only questions that can be raised relate,
first, to the receipt of the dividend ; secondly, to the
1
Bank of England advancing sufficient to meet the deti-
oiencies in the Indian remittances ; and, thirdly, the de-
ferring the claim- for the payment of the principal. En
if there is a doUbt on that point we shall be very
g'4l to receive any suggestions to improve the eteurity.