The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-09 00:00:00

officer will attain his promotion precisely as soon—neither
sooner nor later than ho would have done if no change
whatever had been made in the Indian service. With re-
gard to officers going from the line to the staff, the Com-
mander-in-Chief has submitted to her Majesty, and her
Majesty has approved an arrangement which will be emi-
nently for the benefit of the Indian army. If a captain in
the line, for instance, goes into the staff corps his position
must be filled up or the regiment would not be efficient;
and the arrangement is that whenever a vacancy occurs
in a line regiment by an officer going into the staff
corps an officer of the Indian army will be placed in the
line regiment, such Indian officer being a person of good
character, recommended by the Governor-General and ap-
proved by the Commander-in-Chief. That will clearly be
to the advantage of the Indian army, and must tend to
obliterate all distinctions between them and the line. In
regard to the question of the hon. member for Windsor, he
has stated quite correctly what I said last year, that it had
been my intention to introduce a bill for the amalgamation
of the Supreme and Sudder Courts. In fact, I had a bill
in draught for the purpose; but he will remember that
about the month of May there was great indisposition to
deal with these Indian subjects, and I was unwillingly ob-
liged to postpone the introduction of the bill to carry out
the intention of the Government in 1853, when I was Pre-
sident of the Board of Control. I have since consulted the
Governor-General of India, thinking it desirable to avail
myself of any information I could procure on the subject,
and I had hoped before now to have received his observa-
tions. I have again prepared the bill, but have rather de-
layed its introduction, expecting to receive information from
India. The bill is ready in draught, and will be introduced
I hope, at an early period. With regard to the other ques-
tion, which is of still greater importance, as to alteration in
the Legislative Council of India, the subject, as I stated
last session, was under the consideration of the member of
the Indian Council. What had occurred in India, and the
different opinions held on the subject of taxation in India,
had rendered this a matter of more grave consideration than
it was at the early period of last session. I communicated
with the Governor-General of India on the subject, and it;is
only to-day that I have received his opinions. All the in-
formation and assistance that could be expected from India
having now come to hand, no time shall be lost in introduc-
ing those measures into the house.
Mr. VANSITTART—Are there any other bills beside
these ?
Sir C. WOOD—There is certainly no other bill of any
great importance.
The motion for the adjournment of the house at its ris-
ing till Monday was then agreed to.
THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.
Mr. MILNES moved for a select committee to inquire
into the constitution and efficiency of the present diplo-
matic service of the country. The hen. gentleman ob-
served that the part he had taken in the committee on the
consular service had been but of a secondary character;
and that it was to the ex-member for Stafford (Mr. Wise)
that the house was mainly indebted for the investigation
and the settlement of that question. In the course of the
inquiry the committee often came upon questions affecting
the diplomatic service; and ho had formed the opinion that
a similar investigation into the diplomatic service would be
a fitting corollary to that which had already taken place.
The subject was not altogether a new one. In 1850 a com-
mittee upon official salaries was appointed ; and the large
range of its labours included the diplomatic service of the
country. In their report they recommended a complete
revision of our diplomatic establishments. They suggested
that the embassies in Paris and Constantinople should b
replaced by first class missions—instead of which, however,
new embassies had been established in Vienna and St. Pe-
tersburg. Another recommendation of the committee, that
a central German mission should be formed, in lieu of the
present missions at Frankfort, Hanover, Stuttgardt, and
other cities. Next they recommended the union of the
mission at Florence with some other Italian one. That
suggestion had been complied with, thanks not to the Fe-
reign-office, but to the progress of historical events which
promised to give them a united Italy. Then the committee
recommended that no diplomatic salary should exceed
£5,000 a year exclusive of any allowance for rent. He did
not believe that that had been complied with. Lastly, the
committee urged a general revisitn of the diplomatic esta•
blishments, observing that in some cases missions might be
united, and in others consuls or consular agents might be
substituted for missions, and a considerable saving of ex-
pense might thus be effected. He believed that since 1850
great alterations had taken place, and he thought it would
be very desirable that the country should know what they
were—should have an opportunity of judging whether they
were in the direction which had been recommended; or, if not,
what were the reasons assigned by different heads of the Fo-
reign-office for not having carried out more effectually the
report. Ho was inclined to think that the recent changes had
on the whole increased the efficiency of the service ; and it
might be useful that the public should know what had already
been done in the way of reform. Since 1850 the electric tele-
graph had greatly tended to alter the relations between
our different missions and embassies and the Foreign-office.
He believed that now despatches were written as much
with a view to be laid before Parliament as to give instruc-
tions to our ministers abroad. The attention of the com-
mittee would be well bestowed upon the large unpaid por •
tion of the diplomatic I ervice, which was quite an anomaly.
At present young men remained from four or five to ten or
twelve years attached to our diplomacy without receiving
any consideration in the shape of salary or emolument. He
doubted whether that was good either for the public service
or for the career of those young men themselves. The ten-
dency of opinion was now to connect responsibility with
emolument ; and to doubt whether any man would give the
best of his mind and of his talents, unless be received some-
thing solid in the shape of pay. (Hear, hear.) The heads
of missions had frequently told him that under the present
system it was difficult either to enforce a due amount of
discipline, or to exact a sufficient amount of labour. There
were no doubt some missions of which the younger mem-
bers were regarded almost as members of a family. He
,might particularly instance the mission of a nobleman, now
no more (Lord Westmoreland), who was always looked up
to by those under him as a father and a friend. Another
question that deserved consideration was whether it might
not be possible for the heads of our missions abroad to have
more frequent personal communication with the Foreign..
office. He felt that by living too much abroad'a man might
lose, without knowing it, his power of estimating the force
of public opinion at home, and his appreciation of English
character. For these reasons he (the hon. gentleman) was
desirous to see a committee appointed ; and he had no doubt
that the result would be anything rather than to make us
ashamed of our ministers abroad. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DUFF seconded the 'notion. It appeared to him
that there were many German courts in which diplomatic
agents
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which the Foreign-office would be able 'to judge of their
merits. In some countries there was a considerable diver-
sity between ambassadorial and consular opinion; and he
suggested that a system of periodical visits to the consul-
ships might be established with great advantage. Although
it was natural and proper that the younger members of
missions :should mix in the fashionable society of the
place in which they lived, there was another society in
which they would enjoy greater means of learning that
which they ought to know. He made this remark of Ber-
lin because he had some personal acquaintance with that
capital ; but he believed that it applied with still greater
force to Vienna and St. Petersburg. Last year he had
proposed as an experiment that ono appointment should
every year bo thrown open to competition. Ho was aware
that plan did not meet with much favour, but ho thought
that if the candidates were restricted to persons educated at
the universities or the public schools no possible harm could
result.
Mr. B. COCHRANE said he hoped her Majesty's Govern-
ment would concede the appointment of this committee,
which he thought had been proposed at a very appropriate
time. One reason was the entire change which had taken
place in the diplomatic service, owing to the system of pub-
lic competition by examination having been introduced. He
thought qualities were requisite for the diplomatic service
which it was quite impossible to bring out by examination.
He hoped under the new system the system of unpaid at-
taches would be done away with. He thought that to offer
to the new class of candidates for diplomatic service the
prospect of employment as unpaid attaches would be very
unjust to them. He thought that the whole of the diplo•
matic service was an extremely ill-paid class of public
eervahic.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that he could hardly
coAsent td this committee without saying that he riniat
hold himself quite impledged as to its results. He was
sorry to say at Once that he should be bery tin*illing to
sanction a larger amount of expenditure upon the diploma-
tic service. He was sorry to say of late years it had been
more and more the practice of the House of Commons,
instead of leaVing to the Crown the payment of the public
services, rather to consider. the Means by which the payment
of the pUblic service should be increased. (Hear, hear.)
What ho should ear was that the diplomatic corps was an
extremely useful one. The information obtained from
them was generally most reliable and valuable. As his hon.
friend had observed, considerable changes had been in-
troduced in consequence of the Use of the electric wire
for the transtnission of messages and answers. That,
however, did not remove the necessity tot the employment
of messengers and despatches, in order to convey the results
Of long conyereetiene I?etveeen Iginistefq and courts.
question of unpaid attaches was a very important oht3 ; but
he could not agree that the condition of unpaid attaches
was quite so bad as his hon. friend had represented. He
said that these attaches served sometimes for 16 or Li years
without pay. But he (Lord J. Russell), on looking over
the list the other day, could not find more than a few who
had served for four or five years without pay. He believed
that his hon. friend would find the arrangements at the
Foreign-office for the transaction of business very complete
—in fact, almost perfection, and that the manner in which
business was carried on, without of course any reference to
the immediate duties of the Secretary of State, presented
operations which were perfectly satisfactory. Everything
was in order ; there was no confusion, and in agreeing to
the committee, he:(Lord J. Russell) did not admit that there
were any abuses which required investigation. Still, hom
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