The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-20 00:00:00

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era of peace. was being at last entered on. Until
recently there could not have been, one year
with another, less than from 500,000 to 1,000,000
armed men in India, or men subsisting by the
profession of arms. As- things were now ar-
ranged there would not be more than► 120,000 or
150,000 natives holding arms in their hands, and
whose object in living was rapine and slaughter.
Although he was not an advocate of peace at
any price, and thought the Volunteers had
a right impulse, he conceived this must necessarily
make in the course of a short time•a great differ-
ence in the habits of the rising generation ; and ad-
ding to this the great rise in wages; and 'consequent
increasing habit of steady industry, it must tell in
diminishing the tendency to manufacture wars. The
army of 75,000 Europeans was a solid element of
strength, in the face of which it seemed utterly im-
possible there should be any serious attempt at com-
motion, half that number having sufficed to put
clown a mutiny under every possible disadvantage.
He entirely agreed in the broad principle that h
been laid down, that the improved state of things
in India which we all desired was chiefly d ependant
on the infusion of European enterprise and capital
into that country. (Hear, hear.) In the first
place, of course, was counted what might be called
generally good government. One thing which lay
very much at the root of the whole matter was,
whether the Government of India should continue to
be conducted in England, or be conducted in India.
As surely as we lost the United States of America,
by attempting to govern them in England, and
nearly lost Canada by the same process, and while
we turned Canada, Australia, and the Cape of Good
Hope into loyal and prosperous colonies by simply
letting the local government be conducted in those
colonies, instead of attempting to keep them in lead-
ing-strings from Downing-slreet,so the like results
would follow from like causes in India. (Cheers.)
He thought the measures recently adopted in ►iving
Legislative Councils for the different Presidencies
was a step in the right direction. Although there
might be a certain amount of discussion in a country
like India, on the whole there was more to be gained
by it than would be lost. Therefore, with the
amount of free institutions we had in India--with
a free press, liberty of 'discussion, and these local
councils, as an authorised expression of public opin-
ion,—if we left India a good deal to itself, and did
not attempt to govern it too much in detail from
this country, he saw reason to hope we should make
things right, and that habits of self-government
would gradually spring up. As to the proposed
specific measures for the extension of commerce,
he agreed in the opinion that the question of
communications was at the root of the whole matter.
The railways would not only be important politi-
cally, because, though water carriage might be a
cheaper mode of transport for cotton or bulky com-
modities, yet it was equally true that in many cases
there was no water carriage available, and in still
more cases the railroad, if it was not the route for
coming down to the sea, must be the route for Eu-
ropeans to go up to look after the growth of cotton
in the interior. He did not think there was much
to be said against the Indian Government on the
score of railways at present, though it was perfectly
true that a good many years ago the East India
Company did discourage their formation. It was
rather a question, perhaps, whether too much had
not been done, or whether it had not been done too
expensively. Under the guarantee system, perhaps,
a good deal had been wasted. However, in two
years from this time we should have a very com-
plete system of railway communication throughout
India. Water communications were in many re-
spects preferable, but most Indian streams were not
so much rivers as gigantic mountain torrents, which
in the dry season were reduced to mere threads of
water winding in devious and impracticable chan-
nels. The most promising, no doubt, was the Goda-
very. He was sanguine that something might be
done there to enable native boats and barges with a
supply of cotton to get down, but whether the river
would be rendered navigable for steamers going up
depended on the engineers, not upon the Govern
men t. The Indian Government were fully sensible of
the importance of communications of that sort. Be-
fore despatches reached them from home they ha
provided in the last budget for the outlay on th.
Godavery on all those portions which had been su

veyed and reduced to anything like a defitiaL

estimate, and, although the financial crisis was

not absolutely surmounted, something like
£500,000 more had been devoted this year than last
to that and similar works, consisting mainly of
roads and communications in the cotton districts.
He believed the greatest outlay that could now be

made profitably was in common roads, so as to
enable the bullock-cart, the universal conveyance of
India, to carry produce as cheaply as possible,
either to the nearest railway station or to the!.
nearest shipping port; and it was very much with

a view to accelerate the construction of these works

that he had been anxious to introduce the system

of 'local budgets, by which different localities might

supplement the Government grants by local rates
or taxation. The question of tenure of land and
the question of the law of contracts were of about

equal importance, or perhaps the latter was the
more important. Relative to the immediate supply

of cotton—the question of getting cotton next year,
a good deal depended on European capitalists being
in a position to make advances to the native
growers. It was for the true benefit of the natives

themselves that the law of contracts should be

stringent. (Hear, hear.) The chief difficulty in
getting speedy results in India from a fee simple
tenure by Europeans was the distance of the weste

lands from the population. Ceylon and the Mau-

ritius were more favourably situated in this respect
for the supply of coolies. Wherever there were

efforts of enterprising Europeans in India it was

the desire as well as the duty of the Government

to encourage them ; in the Bengal Presidency a

great deal had been already effected as to the land

settlement, but they could not pass exceptional or
special laws, inconsistent with equal rights and
justice to the natives. After some further observa-
tions Mr. Laing sat down amid loud applause.
A vote of thanks was given to the hon. gentle-
man on the motion of Mr. BAZLEY,

THE DRAWBACK oN PAFER.—The Chancellor
of the Exchequer has refused the request contained in the
memorial on behalf of the letterpress printers, publishers,
lithographers, and copperplate printers, to be allowed draw-
back on their stocks of papor, on the ground that the Act
of Parliament was passed after much deliberation, and its
terms were during two Sessions known to the public, and
that the Act gives no authority to her Majesty's Govern-
ment enabling them to pay drawback to the trades in ques-
tion. At the same time he is not able to subscribe to the
propriety of the claim itself which, if granted, would pro-
duce a number of other claims, which it would be difficult
to refuse and exceptionahe to concede.
A Boy' MURDERER.—An inquest was held at
Westholme Bank-house, Maywood, near Barnardcastle, on
Wednesday, touching the death of Ann Middleton, 38
years of age, housekeeper to Mr. Wm. Gibson, farmer. She
was shot dead on Sunday afternoon by a boy in the service
of Mr. Gibson named Little, only 12 years old, and the evi-
deuce went to show that his master had left his gun loaded
hanging upon some crooks in the kitchen. The deceased
and the boy were left by t'aemselves in the house, and the
former had complained in the morning to her master of the
lad having used abusive language to her. A man named
Kidd called at the house about 2 o'clock and found the
housekeeper and the lad in the yard. The lad had a gun in
his hand, and the deceased said, " You had better make

him take the gun in," and Kidd told the boy to do so. The
boy was then playing with the hammer, made no reply, but
laughed, and lifting the gun to his shoulder pointed it at
Kidd, pulled the trigger, and the hammer went down, but
as there was no snap Kidd thought there was no cap on it.
Kidd sprang forward to seize him, but he stepped out of his
reach, whereupon Kidd said, " You young villain, if you do
not take the gun in I will break your back." Kidd then
engaged in conversation with the deceased, and was just
turning away when the boy put the gun to his shoulder
again and shot at the deceased. The gun went off, and the
shot struck her on the right arm and side. The lad said,
" Oh, Ann, has it struck you r and then made off. Kidd
Billowed after him and brought him back. The deceased
was lying on the ground bleeding, and Kidd sent the boy for
assistance. The lad never came back, and he was last seen
g h
it is supposed, towards Ll TT exham in
Northumberland, where
,where ho was mice before,
his guardians, an uncle and aunt, living at Piercebridge, by
' unknown to
whom he has been brought up.
T h
ic oh, William, he has shot me to the heart," and died soon
after. Mr. Gibson stated that
tion in the house, but ' he had some loose ammuni-
tion could not say whether it had been dis-
turbed in his absence. The inquiry was adjourned to allow
of the fugitive's capture