The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-11 00:00:00

WES'DSOII.

Mr. William Vansittart replies to the letter or
Lord Vaux of Harrowden, in which he was charged
with equivocal conduct. Lord Vaux stated that Mr.
Vansittart had been invited by a section of the Con-
servative party at Windsor to come forward as a can-
didate. To this Mr. Vansittart gives a flat denial.
He admits that he received a letter from Colonel
Taylor with such a request, to which he declined to
accede. He complains that his lordship violates
the sanctity of private life by publishing private
family conversation in a local newspaper, and regrets
that he must follow suit, stating that last June, Lady
Vaux wrote from Mr. Eykyn's, Windsor Place, The
Willows, asking himself and family to pay them a
visit. He refused on these grounds :"As we are on
the eve of a general election, and my sympathies are
altogether with Colonel Richardson Gardner, it would
never do for me to appear as a visitor at The Willows."
It will be remembered that Lord Vaux also stated that
Mr.Vansittart had told him that his brother, the colonel,
intended standing for Windsor if he could obtain
£5OO. Mr. Vansittart takes no notice of this. He
informs the public, through the Times, that he blushes
for his brother-in-law, Lord Vaux. There is a
strange misunderstanding somewhere, and the
explanations and blushings had better be
'Private.

W THE ELECTORS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND MELAMD.I.

The appeal on behalf of our Indian Empire which the
Times of India addresses to the electors of Great Britain
and Ireland acknowledges that for many generations to
come the greatest of British acquisitions will not be able
to enjoy anything like a regular constitutional govern-
ment. The people are not prepared for it ; and the diver-
sities of race, religion, and custom are so great that the
homogeneity necessary for self-legislation cannot be hoped
for at present. A despotism, vigorous in action and
paternal in character, is acknowledged on all hands to be
best adapted to the present condition of India. But it
behoves the electors of the United Kingdom to keep a
watchful eye over the government of the empire. Such
vigilance is the more required because the administration
of those distant regions is much more difficult to supervise
than the executive at home. The Indian Secretaries of
State are not less prone to glide along the old grooves
of custom than other Ministers. India has been well,
governed on the whole, but there are certainlong-standing
evils connected with British rule which are at once a stain
upon the honour and a reflection upon the administrative
capacity of the nation. It is the duty of electors to force
the subject on the attention of representatives, and to
require of the candidate for their suffrages that they should
have " an Indian platform."
Fifteen or sixteen millions of money are annually paid
by India to England, for the greater part of which the
former country receives absolutely no compensation what.
ever. Of this sum, one portion is a direct contri.
bution to the exchequer of Great Britain, in con.
sideration of its benign kindness in controlling
Indian affairs ; another forms the annual interest
on the debt contracted by the English rulers of India in
her behalf ; a third portion embraces the pensions of
retired officers and estimated private remittances ; while
the remainder consists of the amounts annually payable to
English capitalists on account of moneys embarked in rail.
ways and other speculations. Many of the items under
these heads are unavoidable, many justifiable, but others
are the result of reckless maladministration. The dividend
of £600,000 which is annually paid to holders of East India,
stock ought not to be thrown upon the Indian taxpayers..
The dividends on the Indian debt, a million and a half
annually, is payable mostly for useless, if not unjust ware
entered into by England. These were in many cases ware
of conquest, with which India had no concern, but for'
which she had had to pay. The Affghan invasion, foii
instance, was prompted by a mixture of fear and ambi4
tion, was assented to by a weak Governor-General, and the
disaster was worked out by a set of incompetent officers
The policy of establishing British power in Asia is not a policy
for the benefit of India. Moreover, the empire is no
treated like the other dependencies ; she is made to pay'
sums which the colonies would refuse to pay. In the
matter of loans, also, India is badly used. Statesmen will
afford her r.o facilities for going into the money marker;
with a splendid revenue and the best of credit, she is
unable to raise money for the efficient construction of
much-needed public works. In some parts the country'
gives less evidence of civilisation than it did under the.
Moguls. India starves for want of that which might be,
supplied without risk, and " the blood of tens of thou.•
sands periodically swept off by famine caused by
drought is upon the heads of those who daily with
the question." England will allow India to borrow'
for war purposes, but not for those of peace. The probleni
is to determine how the drain upon Indian resources can
be reduced to a minimum, and what proportion of the
charges England ought to bear. To determine these and
other questions the Times of India calls for a royal coati
mission to thoroughly investigate the matter.