The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-19 00:00:00

abolished, and that henceforward the electors
should be only fundholders, possessed of a certain
amount of consols. The proposition would be
hailed with a universal shout of derishm, and
yet it would be more rational than that India
should be handed over to the tender mercies
of the proprietors of 6,000,0001. of India Stock.
As we have already stated, the chief, if not the
only, objection to the measure is, that it does not
go far enough, that in place of rescuing the Anglo-
Indian empire from the hands of the Civil Ser-
vicei and throwing it open to every British citizen,
it pe'rpetuates their ascendancy. The most flagrant
of the many grievances of which the natives had
to complain was the defective administration of
justice. Men who made bad diplomatists or in.
efficient collectors were pitchferked on to the
judicial bench, as if any dunderhead could
answer for that position. A knowledge of
law, or acquaintance with practice, was
totally uncalled for. A man who had
never witnessed forensic proceedings, in any
shape or form, might be called on at a moment's
notice to decide difficult questions affecting, if not
the lives, at all events the liberties and prospects,
of his fellow-subject]. And yet no step has been
taken to remedy this terrible evil. The local
judges of India must still be selected from the
covenanted servants of the Company. No other
person, however great his knowledge of law, or
vast his experience, could obtain a seat on one of
the provincial benches. Should Lord ST. LEoNARDS
himself be willing to preside at one of the inferior
courts, he could not be appointed, owing to the
system which is still to be maintained with una-
bated force.

But, notwithstanding this grave omission, the
measure has good points, and will be a decided
improvement on the existing system. It unques-
tionably establishes Ministerial responsibility to
Parliament, and when that has been obtained
other ameliorations will follow in the due course
of events. It may be fegarded as a large instal-
ment of justice, if not conceding all that the
people of India could reasonably demand or
require.

The Passport system was always sufficiently
obstructive. It offered a formidable impediment
to parties desirous of taking advantage of a brief
holiday, by making short excursions for business
or pleasure into Fiance. It was not merely the
numerous petty extortions incidental thereto,
the necessity of employing Commissionaires
and paying fees to consular agents ;
but the delay and procrastination, that
constituted the chief grievance. It was true that
everything was done to alleviate the evil. A
*traveller might obtain the necessary document
either at the port of debarkation, or wherever he
landed in France ; or, if he intended a mere flying
visit, it might altogether be dispensed with.
There could be no greater danger in permitting
any person to land at Calais or Boulogne, with the
understanding that if he intended to go into
the interior, he should before proceeding provide
himself with the requisite document.
But now all this is changed. A new regulation
has been established, which will render the pre-
vious annoyance absolutely intolerable, and put a
total stop to all brief visits to the other side of
the Channel. Before a British subject can even
land on the sacred soil or sand, be must
not only be armed with a passport from
the Foreign-office, but must have it vised
in London. No one can therefore cross even from
Dover to Calais for a few hours without first com-

ing to London, procuring his recommendation,
and then retracing his footsteps to the point
from whence he is to start for the land of promise.
Na matter whether friend or relative were pros-
trated by disease, and anxiously awaiting an in-
terview ; whether serious losses must be incurred
from the want of immediate action, there must still
be a delay of at least two or three dap, the pay-
ment of 6s. to the Foreign-office, and the expenses
of two or three days' sojourn in London. It mat-
ters not that no real protection can be afforded
thereby, that no conspirator could be kept out by
so paltry an obstacle. It is sufficient that it is an
annoyance to the great body of the English people,
and that gratifies the petty spite of the officials,
if not of the EMPEROB. himself.

The records of the police afford daily evidence
of the magnitude of the evil. But yesterday, a
gentleman, from Brighton, complained at the
Guildhall that he had been compelled to come
from Newhaven to London, at a cost of al., in
order to obtain the necessary recommendation.
This outlay will be more than doubled by the
expenses during his sojourn at an hotel, while
awaiting the magical documents ! This is but
ono of a thousand of similar transactions.
The result will necessarilly be to limit
the intercourse that previously subsisted
between the peoples of Eagland and France, and
of course to diminish the cordiality mutually
entertained. It may have one effect to which we
shall offer no objection. It may prevent parents
from sending their children to be educated in
French seminaries or French convents, to the
imminent danger of their religious principles ; or
it may make intending tourists content themselves
with a visit to the magnificent scenery of the Bri-
tish Isles, and save them from the exactions of
French hotel-keepers. Henceforward a brief
trip to France will be attended with almost as
many difficulties as a visit to Timbuctoo,
or to the interior of Japan, and the adventurous
traveller who details his experiences in the
upper town of Boulogne or on the ram-
parts of Calais, will be regarded as a rival to Dr.
LIVINGSTONE —a would-be successor to MuNGo
PARIC. Far better that the system of exclusion
should be rendered perfect, and that French
ground should be tabooed to the people of Great
Britain. The restrictions will unquestionably be
very vexatious, but they place the parties impli-
cated in a very ridiculous position, showing the
length to which nervous apprehensions may
carry persons once supposed to be possessed of
sound judgment and masculine courage.

The second reading of the Conspiracy Bill stands
for this evening. The new regulations will, of
course, render that unpopular measure totally un-
necessary and uncalled for. We may, therefore,
anticipate its summary and decisive rejection by
the popular branch of the Legislature.

Ministers have been beaten, that's the plain
fact. Well did they deserve it. Lord PALMER-
nON had the folly to play off his jokes and smiles,
but a few weeks ago, with a large and respectable
deputation of earnest men, who left their homes in
the country, and their business everywhere, to lay
seriously before him their complaints of the
Church-rate grievance. They, of course, left
disgusted, and though too polite to toll his lord-
ship so in his own house, they adjourned to the
Thatched House Tavern, and told their friends all
over the country what they thought of the
Minister and his reply. They urged energetic i
action on Church-rate Abolitionists, since the
Premier's shifts and evasions made it plain that
they must rely on themselves. Doubtless hon.
from their constituents ,
members have had many
alnetdter
thes in
n
r result, consequence
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give it in the Board of Trade style, stands thus;