The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-20 00:00:00

appears truly described--:to be a child of quick intel-
lect, and precociously developed mind, on having
the matter plainly put before her, steadily declined
to be removed from the school. On an interview
with her mother, she persisted in this refusal; and
in a letter to the governess, which is distinctly
sworn to be of her own unaided composition, gives
reasons for her refusal which certainly go far to
prove that in mind, if not years, she is abundantly
capable of exercising a discretion on the point for
herself. The Executive Committee, on this, decline
to permit the removal of the child, and the mother
then applies to the Court of Queen's Bench for a
writ of habeas corpus on Mary Clarke, the mistress
of the school, commanding her to bring the body of
the child into court, with a view of her being deli-
vered over to her mother. It was upon this appli-
cation that the argument arose which was reported
in our columns yesterday.
The main question before the Court is whether,
under these circumstances, it is bound to hand the
girl over to the mother, either as such or as " tes-
tamentary guardian of the child ; or whether it
may exercise a discretion in the matter. If the
application of the mother be merely rested on the
ground of her maternal character, it would seem
that the discretion of the Court would not, upon
the current of authority and precedent, be ex-
cluded. This is not the place for a legal argument,
but it would certainly appear difficult to escape from
the authority of the case of " In re Lloyd" (3 Mau.
and Gr. 547), cited during the discussion, in which,
on an application for an habeas corpus by the
mother, Chief Justice Tindal allowed a child be-
tween eleven and twelve years of age to choose
for herself whether she would go with her mother
or not, and on her expressing a strong disinclina-
tion to do so, would permit no step to be taken to
coerce her will, and on the mother's attempting to
take forcible possession of the child, caused an
officer of the court to interfere for its protection.
" Had the child been under seven years of age,"
the Chief Justice said, " the Court would have
held that she could exercise no discretion ; but she
is old enough to choose for herself, and therefore
we do not feel called upon to exercise a discretion
for her." This case, the authority of which is un-
questioned, certainly seems to dispose of the argu-
ment that the Court of Queen's Bench is bound to
decide in favour of the application of Mrs. Race
solely on the ground that it is made by the mother.
But then, it is said, the mother here claims in the
character of a " testamentary guardian." Be it so :
but in order to see how this affects the case, we
must surely look at the nature of the circumstances
under which that character was imposed on her.
The father, a Protestant, appoints the mother
guardian, " feeling confident"—so he expresses it
—" that she will do justice to my dear children as
a wife and a mother." Now, what does he mean
by this expression ? Surely his whole previous
conduct with reference to the children must be
looked at in order to ascertain this. The baptism
by a Protestant minister—the constant attendance
by the children, during his lifetime, at Protestant
places of worship and Protestant schools,—all this
shows pretty plainly what he meant when he con-
fided in the mot her to do justice to his children,
those children whom in his last letter—the letter,
be it observed, of an eminently pious and religious
man—he had earnestly prayed her " to bring up in
the fear of the Lord." What do such words as these
mean from a religious man, consciously writing on
the very verge of eternity about the children who
throughout life had been the objects of his pious
solicitude and his most anxious affection ? But it
does not rest even here. The mother herself told
Captain Conolly, as he distinctly swears, that " her
great desire was that her children should be brought
up as Protestants, according to the wishes of her
late husband." Surely under such circumstances as
these, to hand over the reluctant child of his Pro-
testant father, on the application of the mother, to
be trained up in a Roman Catholic school, would be
to give that effect to the wish of a " testamentary
guardian," which is not conceded to the will of the
testator himself. It would be to make the altered
wishes of the mother—in plain words, the desire
of "her clergyman"—paramount over her own
former wish when the influence of her recently
deceased husband was stronger with her,—ovtr the
expressed repugnance of her intelligent child—
over the desire, as she herself understood it of that
pious father who died in the form of faith to which
during life he had trained up his children. It is
not, of course, for us to say what weapons may be
furnished from she armoury of legal erudition
against the simple and common-sense view here ex-
pressed. We shall watch the termination of the
case with great interest, but we own it would cause
us much concern, and not a little surprise, if the
Court of Queen's Bench should either consider
itself so bound by precedents as to have no discretion
in the matter, or having a discretion, should exer-
cise it by delivering up, contrary to her wish, the
helpless daughter of this brave dead soldier to be
educated in a faith against which, as a training for
his children, his whole practice while in life was a
protest.
I

ANNEXATION OF THE STATES OF
RAJPOOTANA.

We hear there is not a doubt that the Stales of
Rajpootana will be annexed the moment Govern-
ment can conveniently do so, as orders are out
from the Court of Directors dated, so we are in-
formed, the 11th of July, 1856, directing that all
the lesser States be annexed to the Government of
India whenever circumstances will admit of such a
course. It is supposed by Sir Henry Lawrence,
K.C.8., and the Hon. Mr. Colvin, Lieutenant-
Governor of the North-Western Provinces, that
those circumstances have arisen, first, from the
remonstrance of the Thacoors in conjunction with
the Commissioner of the King of Nepanl about the
taxing of Sodabut lands ; secondly, from the pre-
valence of infanticide in the Thacoor States ; and
thirdly, from the prevalence of Thuggee. Tee
camp of exercise now forming at Xlehidpore is
said to have something to do with the contem-
plated annexation, and further, that the State
of Odeypore is to be the first of those that will
be swallowed up. The Government of the North.
Western Provinces think that the States of Raj-
pootana will yield, after the expenses of Govern-
ment and contingents have been defrayed, the sum
of 32,000,000 rupees per annum, and will give
centralisation and uniformity to the seven neigh-
bouring districts of the Company's territories, and
place at the entire disposal of Government the
bravest of the Hindoo warriors, in the same
manner that the annexation of Oude has placed
the nursery for Mahomedan soldiers in the grasp
of Government. The Government, so it is re-
ported, think it contrary to policy to have inde
pendent States within 200 miles of the seat of
Government, and that, as the railways of the
Jumna Valley were hastening towards prooTess,
the evil of jurisdiction would be severely felt in
the action of government and the administration
of justice. As a salve to the undoubted right of
the Thacoors, the annexers state that to the Raj-
poot chiefs an honourable competency would be far
preferable to the irksome task of governing, espe-
cially as the rulers were so sunk in debauchery
that it required a thunderclap to rouse them from
their habitual lethargy to the responsibilities of
their situation and the wants of India and their
own peoples. It is stated that three-fifths of
the Ranas, instead of spending their time, as
their ancestors did, in martial exercises, in
the judgment seat, and looking after public
improvements, now delegate them to subor-
dinates and spend their time amid buffoons and
Cyprians ; that the Ministers, instead of being
chosen for birth or probity, are selected for their
knowledge of a new pleasure and the grand art of
extracting money from their impoverished tenantry ;
that both the Thacoor and his instrument are
thoroughly despised by the people ; and, finally,
that improvements in states do not arise from any
preconceived plan or conviction, but from impulse
or outward pressure ; that directly that ceases the
dancing girls, their paramours, awl trainers usurp
the sway and treasury, and reduce the country to
abject misery, until the British Government steps
in—almost by violence steps in—and forces a
change, which only lasts as long as the undivided
pressure lasts ; but the instant the pressure of the
Government of India is relaxed the State falls back
into the slough from which it was dragged out.
Such are the outlines of the principal reasons, so
we are informed, which have weighed with the
Hon- Court in ordering, when expedient, the an-
nexation of the States of Rajpootana. The Supreme
Government of India forgets the Damin-i-koh, and
that not long ago we had a servile war not a 100
miles from the seat of empire, and all for the very
sins we are about punishing in the Thacoors of
Rajpootana.—. Calcutta Morning Chronicle, De-
cenatier 2.

MEMORIAL OF THE LATE Ma. BRITTON.—At a recent
meeting of the Royal Institute of Architects the Council
submitted a proposition to the members present, to the
effect that it would be a graceful tribute of respect to
the memory of oue whose services to the profession have
been of an unexampled character, if a memorial tablet
were erected by the Institute, to c,romemorate those
services, and to record their regard for Mr. Britton.
And it was further suggested that it would be expedient
to make an application to the Dean and Chapter of
Salisbury, expres4ing the hope that permission would be
granted for the erection of the memorial in that cathedi al
—which is at the same time the mother church of the
diocese, and of the county in which he was boin, and
also the first cathedral of which he undertook the graphic
illustration. The proposition was received withaccla-
wation, and will be acted on forthwith.—The Builder_