The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

THE SUN,R PLONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 'l2, 1859.

that every one almost has too much to do ; that is, if
he did it. Hence, in the civil departments work is
always hopelessly in arrear, and justice delayed till
the very delay becomes a penalty intolerable to the
injured party. " One of the crying evils of
says M. N. S., "is the very large extent of the
districts committed to the charge of the magistrates.
Imagine one man being held responsible for
the safety, the immunity from crime, and the col-
lection of the revenue of the whole of Wales. And
yet this is not a greater anomaly than the magistracy
and collectorship of Goruckpoor, the extreme points
of which are more than sixty miles from the magis-
trate's office, with a population of hundreds of
thousands." And what is the grand error of main-
taining but one magistrate for such vast provinces,
is also the error in regard to the supreme magis-
trate in India. All are overpaid for work beyond
their powers. The system, indeed, of individual and
personal responsibility for Governors of all grades is
adaptedto India, because, the natives understand it;
but it should be not an extravagantly but reasonably
paid service for a reasonable amount of work. The
Governor-General is " the referee from all parts of
India; he has more work on hand than any Gover-
nor-General, however herculean, can perform ; he
is sadly overburdened ; the consequence is, every
department in India suffers from delay." M. N.
S. says that Mr. BRIGHT'S opinion, he feels certain,
is the correct one; that it is, as the hon. member
maintains, utterly impossible for the Governor-Gene-
ral to oonduct singly the duties of the Governor of
our immense Indian empire. The writer, therefore,
would have a general reduction of salaries from the
Viceroy downwards, but, therewith, a reduction of
the work to be done to reasonable dimensions.

He gives, as an illustration, the task assigned to
himself when he must have been, we should think,
a young man, as he has now seen but ten years of
the service, which is entered very early. These,
then,were the duties of ayoung Englishman among a
people of a strange tongue and in a tropical climate :
" 1. Magistrate for a population something below
1,000,000 souls, with power to sentence to seven
years' imprisonment, and to inflict 100 lashes. 2.
.Collector of revenue, and tax-gatherer for the dis-
trict (on an average, 30 agricultural suits filed daily).
3. Civil Judge, with power to try civil suits to any
amount (about 80 civil suits were filed daily—value
of suits from one rupee to one lac and upwards).
4. City tax-collector, and to perform all the duties
of municipal committees, sanitary boards, &c. &c.
5. Road overseer, and general architect. 6. Jail
superintendent. 7. Treasurer, with an expendi-
ture of 15 lacs, or £150,000 per mensem. 8. To
superintend education and mofussil schools. 9.
Surveyor. 10. Miscellaneous duties of all kinds,
such as supplying provisions to troops on the line
of march, correspondence with superior authorities
upon appeals, procedure, dismissals of native
ministerial officers, &c. Often as many as
500 letters were written in a month, the ave-
rage was certainly not below 10 letters per diem."
and he adds that even this does not comprehend all
the duties which fall to the lot of district officers,
although it illustrates their variety.
It is evident that, for the cure of these radical
and obvious evils, we must begin at the beginning.
A splendid vice-royalty, to restore or build up the
fortunes of needy peers like Lord DALHOUSIE or
Lord CANNING, is a lucrative convenience that our
aristocracy will not easily surrender, not even for
the salvation of India. A seat in the superfluously
large Council for India, and the extravagantly
overpaid covenanted service, are plums which the
upper section of the middle classes, who have made
India their preserve so long, will be fought for
with all the influence which a long and splendid
patronage has given. It will not be without a
struggle that the first elements of good government
will be secured for India. They must be secured,
however, if we are to escape another mutiny ; if
we are to content the country; if we are to reduce
that fatally large native force, which even now
exists chiefly to create posts for Anglo-Indians ;
and, if we are to have every part of
India improved in its government, social con-
dition, and commerce, as much as the Island of
Ceylon, which forms properly the southernmost
province of India. Had India been only governed,
as it might easily be, on the same reasonable prin-
ciples on which the Government of Ceylon has been
administered, we might by this time, instead of a
mutiny and a population ground to the dust by
taxation, have had a wealthy country, a reciprocal
commerce enriching Manchester, Birmingham, end
Sheffield, as well as India ; and instead of an empty
exchequer threatening one day to empty ours, a
revenue ample for Indian wants, ample to guarantee
railroads and irrigation works, and to change the
face of the land.
We will not at present advert to other wants of
India, imperiously as they call for attention, One
thing we regard as certain—that we can no longer
afford to leave India to Governors-General and
Indian Secretaries with their Council. Indian Re-
form will soon become fully as important, indeed
we believe more urgent, than Parliamentary Re-
form, though the latter ought to be the way to the
former. 'lt will not do to go on till an avalanche of
Indian Debt suddenly overwhelms our own Exche-
qner, and then to utter the silly old exclamation—
Non putaram !

HER MAJESTr S SHIP SAPPHO.

LATEST NEWS.

reviewed the National Guard; the crowd shouting
" Viva it Re !"

Signor Ricasoli has published an order of the
day, thanking the Guard, in the name of the country
and the King of Sardinia, for their bearing and
discipline, expressing confidence in the future, and
hoping that the Guard and the regular troops would
support the wishes of the country.

MODENA, SEPT. 10.

M. Parisi, ex-secretary in the Cabinet of Francis
V., M. Guerra, keeper of the privy archives, and M.
Solieri, ex-secretary-general in the late Ministry for
foreign affairs, have acknowledged to-day before a
notary the authenticity of the writing of the two
letters from Francis V., abusing the Emperor Na-
poleon, France and the other Western Powers.
This declaration is in reply to the article in the
French Pays.

BOLOGNA, SEPT. 10.

The National Assembly has decreed:
1. That all those who have governed in the Ro-
magna from the 12th of June to the present time

have deserved well of their country.
2. The ratification of the title and authority of
M. Cipriani as Governor-General, with responsible
Ministers.

3. That full powers be conferred on M. Cipriani
for the preservation of order in the interior and for
the defence of the country.
4. That M. Cipriani be charged to co-operate
energetically for the accomplishment of the wishes
of the Assembly to procure a more intimate union
with the other provinces of Central Italy.
5. That to M. Cipriani is given the faculty of
proroguing and re-convoking the National As-
sembly.

One hour afterwards the Minister of Grace and
Justice read a decree for the prorogation of the
Assembly.

ZURICH, SEPT. 10.

To- day the French and Austrian Plenipotentiaries
held a conference. A courier has arrived from the
French Cabinet, and another has left for Paris.

TRIESTE, SEPT. 11.

The construction, at Pola, of two 50-gun screw
frigates and 12 sloops and gunboats has been
ordered.

PARIS, SEPT. 10.

Th 9, Prince Chimay has arrived at Biarritz, and
has taken up his quarters at the magnificent Chateau
d'Ardoin, which he has hired for the reception of
the King of the Belgians. His Majesty travels
under the name of Comte de Later.