The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

TliE SHIN,

was establisheti, Jut.-to_. secure a revision of their
E C 'mints by an independent authority, invested with
Sufficient powerCof investigation, to detect any misap-.
Ocation :of- the votes, -, or any deviation from the
appropriation sancti,,ned by
-Parliament.: This -check
now applies to the naval and military expenditure, and is
regulate& by the provisions of an act (9 .and 10.Vict.,
c. 92) passed in -1846 ; also to . the expenditure of the
offices of Woods and .Forests, and Public Works.; and
the Commissioners 'of Audit transmit annually to, the
Treasury, for presentation to,the House of Coramona,
accounts of naval and military expenditure, 'compared
with the grants, accompanied by reports, in which they
direct attention to every departure from the provisions
of the Appropriation Act: Your committee-recommend
that this important check- upon the application of the
public money be extended to the accounts of the income
and expenditure kept at the Treasury, to the accounts of
the revenue departments, and to' the various; accounts
comprising the expenditure of the votes for civil services,
including civil-contingencies. ' Fdr the latter service two
accounts should be presented ; one showing-the final
payments charged against the votefor civil contingencies,
and the'other showing; a balanced account of the trans-
actions of the 'year; including the outstanding advances
at the Close of theyear, and the balance unissued brought
down to the following year. These accounts were pre-
sented for the past year along with the estimate for civil
contingencies for the current year. Your committee are
else; of opinion that the whole of these accounts, finally
audited, should be prevented to Parliament before the
close of the year succeeding that to which they relate:
In order to strengthen the check upon the Government
in regard to•issues of money,- for any service whatever in
excess of the sum toted-by Parliament, your committee
recommend that all payments of the Paymaster-General
shaitbe checked from day -to day, in the departments in
which they are authorised or made, by an officer to be ap-
pointed by the Commissioners of Audit ; it will be the
• duty of this• officer- to fellow.from day'to day the appro-•
priation of every payment to its proper account, and to
report immediately to the commissioners any excess of
the vote sanctioned- by Parliament, or other irregularity.
Alid your committee-further recommend that these
audited accounts be annually Submitted to the revision-1
of a committee of the House 'of Commens, to be nomi-
nated by the Speaker.' It is desirable that an annual
aceount of all guaranteed loans, - including the pays ents
• made, and the arrears, if any,- due to the Consolidated
Fend, 'shall•be presented to this committee',' and ,that
they :dcr report thereon specially to the house.
- -'- Your committee suggest that the Audit Board sh,ould
no longer transmit-throug-h the Treasury those acconnts
which they are bound ,to lay before Parliament, but
shoUld communicate them direct, and that the apipro-
priation and inspection of army and navy accounts; the '
selection of -officers for the respective duties, theit re-
moval or die-missal,' shoUld' rest entirely with the. Audit
Lard. • ' -
,
Your committee has recommended a large extension
of the duties and powers of the. Board of Audit, If
these suggeStiope be, adopted, it will be. neoe.ssary that
the composition and relative position of this beard, as a
great department,of the_ State,;. should be I:.ecoosidered
by the Executive Government. The Boarded Audit is
responsible to Parliament alone, and the station and
emoluments of the person at the head of it should be equal
to the importance of the .duties to be performed, and not
second in rank to any of the permanent officers presiding
over other principal, departments.
7:—PHINCIPLE UPON . WHICH THE VOTES. POE CIVIL

L O_N _LI 0 N,

FREEDOM-01?. .THEE.. PRESS IN INDIA.

(From the Times.).
•
, As it was never imagined- that India was to be
governed precisely as we govetn ourselves, So it was
never supposed that the Press stood on the same
ground there as at home.. The liberty of the Press
has in this country been exalted to the rank of a
sacred prilaciple, the Palladium of the Constitution,
an inherited right, the safeguard of personal freedom,
and the only check upon political tyranny and offi-
cial abuse. These are indefinite and absolute expres-
sions, but they who employ them have an honest
and wholesome conviction that a, free Press is
necessary to a fres State, and that there is some-
thing intrinsically honourable and beneficial in a
state of society in which everybody may,publisb,
within reasonable limits, his belief and his opinions. f:
The freedom of the Press is, however, a practical
question. We maintain it on such practical and
assignable grounds as that it throws continual
light on the administration of public affairs; 'on
the proceedings of Official personages; and the
working of the whole system ; that it gives a vent
to feelings which might otherwise smoulder in a
more malignant form.; that, on the other band, it
provides a check for its own excessesin the constant
opportunity of reply -and contradiction, and the
disgust which calumny and caliehood will always
excite in the mind of a free and generous people.
Such a defence is truer as far as it applies to such a
State and such a people. We believe that, in
matter of fact it is impossible for the Press of this
country to do any amount of mischief at all to be
compared with the evils certain to ensue on a
withdrawal of this check. The Press cannot
-damage a good- measure ; it cannot overthrow a
good- Government ; it cannot destroy a well-
grounded reputatlon. The least eymptorn of a
malicious design to attain these ends is certain to
recoil on the authors. 'These things it catinoti do,
though they are quite within the ordinary scope
of public men,, and are the frequent aims of
parties and politicians. The public at large are far
more ready to accept the rhetorical exaggerations
of some enthusiast or partisan :on ,a platform, ,of
some adventurer or rival in the Senate, than of the.
nameless writer who sits down to-a dispa,ssionato
-discussion of persons and things. The_ " we". to;
which some alarmists have attached so tremendous
an influence, and which it has been proposed to rob
of its dark terrors and clothe with some 'vulgar ira-
-personation, . is, perhaps, the most cautious awl
scrupulous writer of the day. In the absence of a
great name the pen is found to appeal to facts and
considerations within everybody's knowledge, and
reach,. and to go no further than the public is pre-
pared to go with it. Once it transgresses, once it
aims to -be an independent authority and an .organ
of mischief, it finds everybody's hand turned against
' it, and it has to defend its ground against a' thou-
sand writers and talkers only teo glad to find a
common butt for their invective. ' '
_ _

For the truth of these remarks on the real impo-
tence of a frea. Press in a free country for any evil
purpose we need only refer to the fict that none
use it f o freely as they who in moments of .pettu,-
lance have, thought fit, to denounce it. It is a
matter of frequent occurrence for men wha but the
other day were abusing the newspapers, and putting
anonymous writing on a par with assassination, to
make the freest use of these or other columns, and,
itS often as not, find by their own, ext•erience'that
it is no easy matter so to write as 'to incur neither
contradiction nor .rehuke:

These are practical considerations, a,nd they apply
to_tngland,, but not to India. Thong,h our geverni-
went of that country,, is infinitely more conducive
to happiness, freedom, and elevaion than' any
government that its farmer rulers or the people
themselves ever devised, yet-it cannot be called
self-government or constitutional in the same sense
as ours. In fact, ludia cannot govern itself;
it never ; and the. fiat step in' the attempt
would be a' war ' of 'extermination between Ma-
homedan and _Riede°,
.then between' the dif-
ferent sects of the former creed. So we govern
India, and impartial author:ties.have said there is
no country in the world so well governed as India,
and that England herself cannot exhibit such proofs
of government at honie as can be 'shown in her
great dependency. We are the lords of India, and
hold the balance of power between innumerable
races, religions, dynasties, laws, and pretensions.of
all sorts. In. doing this we have to appeal to the
gratitude, the fear, and respect of two hundred
millions of people,. who are, . perhaps,' the simplest,
and most credulous on the earth. It is the very
soil of delusion. The religion of the vast majority`
is not merely an ancient mythology, believed be-
cause it is there, but, a living source of the most
preposterous inventions., 'lndeed, there is hardly
anything that the Hi:1(10es may not be made to
believe. They will accept with equal facility, on
any or no authority, and without the least investi-
gation, a tale of private scandal, a libel upon a Go-
vernment, an astounding miracle, a, new revelation,
the deification of a plant, a stream, or a stone, a
prophecy, the decline of a dynasty. or the decay of
a godhead, a .curse, a code of morality, or anything
whatever, so long as the appeal is made directly to
the faith 2 and reason be carefully
-putout of the
question. All that is spontang )us in the social sys
tem of the Ilindoo,s is of the most imaginative and
irrational character. . From the highest:-Rajah t.)
the lowest mendicant they yield their fait)), their
conscience, their purse,and their lives to the leader
who makes the most extravagant demands upon
them. Accordingly for themselves, and among
themselves, they altogether eschew freedom of
discussion. As for the Mahomedans, they know
no such thing as ,libprty, and can have as little
to do with a free Pros as with, a .House of
Commons. In such a population, then, there -are
wanting those checks which we have admitted
to be necessary, and which we -have- averted in
'our own instance. Our 'direct hold upon India
is our military syStem, and the chief Material of
that system is a native soldiery. As it is the most
powerful part of the people, so, it is the most in-
formed, the most gregarious, the least occupied, and
the most liable to have a stock of grievances against
us. If it is assured by designing persons in a tone
of authority that we are planning to a. 8 t,roy caste
by the secret use of, forbidden materials ; that we ,
are preparing to take the Sepoy to the ends. of the
earth ; or that this 'is the prophetic period of dor -1
expulsion, it will most' probably believee-what it is
told. It' may never sed the contradiction or hray-.
not credit it. At all events, it is not coinpetent
to detect the imposture, and cmisequently has not
the requisite safeguard against the abuses of a free
Press.

Such are the considerations that have determined
--indeeti, we may, say compelled,. the, ,Indian Go-
vernment to restrict for the pre,ent the, liberty of
the Press. It does not by any means, give up the
principle, and it expressly' reserves ' the grounds
upon which a free. Press was given to India, now
twenty-two years ago. That Act was avowedlyan
experimenty or temporary concession, made with
the full consciousness that it might be abuSed,
and that circumstances might arise to compel
its suspension. The.present Act of Council; there-
fore; is, happily, not retrogressive, and merely
implies that an occasion has come. such as was.
contemplated by the authors of the Act of 1833.
When It is found that the native journals pub•
lished in Hindostanee and PerSian contain, besides -
theincendiarrproclamation known to our readers,
the most lavish abuse of the Government and its
agents, promises of immediate ema,ncipation„a,nd
directions to the native army how to further that
object, it becomes a matter of common sense and
obvious necessity to prevent ,the Preis from being
the organ of rebellion.• That is all that is intended.
The only difficulty of the question is its Learing on,
the Anglo-Indian prom- To the home imagina-
tion there it a certain necessary connex'on betwe n
the English language and liberty of speech. But.
,everywhere and in ,every native regiment there 'dice
Sepoys whorealEnglishi ',schools where English is
taught, and native officials quite ready and corafie-,
tent to translate sedition into any Indian•language
that may answer the purpose. In file', there ; are
two journals at Calcutta, .published and edited by:
natives in the-Engli .th.language, and these journals
have contributed their share to the insaireotion.
Practically :it 'Matters little, or nothing, whether
dangerous argon:tents, treasonable counsels, and
useful information are given in English or in any
native tongue, or whether the publishers be Eng--
fish er Indian. In the present critical situation
-of
the Indian Goverbniefit tt Must lakea plain, not to
say a military,, ,view of de' wrest:fon., and aitence not
only the mutineer, iii ails, but', the *rper , who
blows the blast of war.:. The-Indian Gyvernment
have carried ont.the pre.sent: measure with great
-moderation. It would be mere pedantry; then, to
ascribe- to .it a settled .design on the.press, or on
tITOse "principles of liberty' which we all Cherish 'at
horne'.'"-What.cortv,e-r_. it-mttyliave to take for the
future is a matter for further cpnsidentiop.

A Yespeotable-lookirt man went, a fovi -chip' ago,.
thronkh- 'cliftdren —villaoes 'the( 'neighbourhood of
Chnt6ati,Thierry (Aisne), with a large-rogietkr`iirrder-his'
'ski; for the purpoae, ha 'Said, of-engaging' vidrkthertfor
a railwaY'Whioh was to tommenced itrittediatql from
theabovo' town to Soissons. "'A number-of Countiymen
anxious to obtain employment ddring the winter months,
when the operations in the fields aro almost at ti stand-
still, eagerly came for ward and had their'names set down.
Oa leaving the cottag'e'cf of hii dupeS, the'recyuiter
took from 'his pocket-book a bank-note fer'sooEi aid
whether he could have cash for it. 'Oa beinglold
hat they had not 'so `'much :Money in the boniici, he
Ap-
peared annoyed, gaying that he had 80f, to pay,- ana'hs:
had only 39f., which be drew blit of his Pocket. He thisii
asked whether he could leave the 1 )ati of 41E- until the'
nett day, to make up t ;‘'e sum. This wai'nOoMdtl to, cm
fortiitikteiy as-lib never i6turatd;'nsid"liWtiot since
been beard of.