The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-27 00:00:00

A Special General Court of Proprietors of East India
Stock was held yesterday.
The Chairman (Sir G. A. Robinson) acquainted the
Court that it was made special, at the request of some
Proprietors—first, for, the purpose of calling on the Direc-
tors to lay before the Proprietors the intended -rules and
regulations , which the executive body is empowered to
frame, under the act of the last session, for the examina-
tion in the various requisite branches of knowledge of such
young men as are about to proceed to India in the capacity
of writers, without having studied at Haileybury College;
and, secondly, clilling on the Court of Directors to instruct
their Governments abroad to abolish, immediately, the
odious practice of paying the civil servants iu sicca ru-
pees, and the army in a less valuable currency, called so-
nat rupees • and to prevent all discontent from the conti-
nuance of this unreasonable distinction among the King's,
or Company's civil, military, and naval functionaries, in
future, by the whole receiving their respective allowances
in the same species, or equitable rates of the local coins,
where such papnents are made.

LORD A M aims?.

Colonel L. Stanhope wished, before the Court proceed-
ed with the business of the hty, to put a question to the
Hon. Chairmen, He understood, from very high authority
in British India, that above 1,000,000 guineas per month
wereixpendedizt the Burmese war, and he desired to
know whether his Majesty's Ministers, who had acted with
so much wisdom in other things—who were, he thought,
the greatest Ministers this country ever had—were.so ob-
stinate on one point as, notwithstanding the universal feel-
ing; which prevailed against Lord Amherst. in India, to
continue him in his present situation ? Because, if they
did, he must say that this great expenditure was calculated
to accelerate the decline and downfall both of the Company
and the country ; for the debt thus accumulated was, in
fact, the debt of England.
The Chairman said, this was a Court specially sum-
moned to take into consideration certain motions now on
the paper, and it was quite, contrary to custom to bring on
for discussion any matter that was not specifically before
them ; so that, if he were even, prepared to state what was
the intentions of his Majesty's Ministers (with whose se-
crets he certainly was not acquainted ~it would be utteily
impossible for him, situated as the Court was, to gratify
the curiosity of the Grallant Colonel on the point to which
he had alluded..

Colonel L. StaubOpe could not but express his regret
that a million of guineas should be expended every month
on the Burmese. war, while the mechanics of England
were in a state of starvation:

PAY or TiIit.CIVIL AND MILITAUY SERVICE.
_ .

Dr. Gilchrist then rose to submit to the Court his re-
solution relative to the difference which had long subsisted
between:the mode in which payment was made to the
Company's servants in the civil and military departments.
He believed it would not be denied by any man, that in
all countries the civil power should have the superio-
rity over: that of a military nature; and he thought also
that it was fair that the civil power in India should, per-
haps, have a higher allowance than was granted to the
military ; because the military officer entered the service
with a chivalric wish to obtain honour and glory; and, in
the course of his career, he often fell in with plunder 'to
which the civilian was a stranger. But stilt.. them swum
not be such a distinctiox between the two services as was

likely to create ill-feeling. The Learned Doctor then, at
some length, expatiated on the hardship and injustice which
were inflicted on the military officer, who was paid
in the- Sonat rupee, while his son, who happened to be a
civilian, was paid in the Sicca rupee, which was a coin of
more value. This system, when he was in Bengal, had
been a cause of great heart-burning. It still continued to
be so, and the evil ought to be' removed as soon as.pos-
sible. To prove the hardship imposed upon military of-
ficers by the existing system, the LearnedDoetor read an
eitract from a work lately 'published by" a King's officer,"
in which -the author calculates that the military servant,
in consequence of being paid in Sonia rupees, actually re-
ceived 9 per cent. less than the civilian; and he also read
an eatract'of a private letter, in which the writer com-
plained of the additional lots that was sustained 'when mo-
ney was remitted to this country for the support of a sick
wife or distressed relative. In conclusion the Learned
Doctor moven—

" That, considering the manifold advantages of reconciling the
feelings and interests of the various public department* and official
communities at the different presidencies in Eritish India with
each other, in every branch' of the service, this Court ieconnnendS
that the Executive Government there be instructed to abolish imj
mediately the odious practice of paying the civil servants in Siccii
rupees, and the army in a less valuable currency, called Sonat ru-
pees, to prevent all discontent from the continuance of this unrea-
sonable distinction among the King's, or Company's civil, militaiy,
and naval functionaries in future, by the whole receiving their re-
spective allowances in the carne special, or equitable rates of the
local coins, where each payments are made."
Colonel L. Stanhope seconded the motion. In doing
this, he feared there were persons in that Court who
thought that those who brought .forward such subjects
were treading on dangerous ground. It' was true they
were talking of the wrongs and oppressions of distant
armies—of troops whose armour was buckled on—with a
pest prevailing m their camp, and, would it were not so,
with Lord Amherst 'directing their war council. He called
on the Court of .Directors, by a wise and judicious poliey,
to avert these evils which were always produced by the
machinations of a discontented army. If ,they were un-
mindful 'of history, surely they could not. shut their eyes
agaitutt thete important events, Which were, he might tray,
seeing at this moment in different countries. They had,
p
m their own times, seen, that armies had, under, peculiar
circumstances, taken the lead in rebellion. In former
times, such had been the case in this country. At a later
period they had seen France, Spain, Italy, Sicily, and still
more recently, they had beheld Russia, South America,
and Turkey, all shaken by military rebellions; while
ere
inin-America,, England, and Switzerland, Wh the people
had a voice; and the press was free, none of these commo-
tions had been known. He called upon the Court of
Directors, who had the good fortune.!o exercise !Dower—.
to exercise dominion—and who had also the good fortune
to be paid largely for the performance of those duties' which
devolved upon them (they were not, indeed, paid in inoney,
but each of them had, yearly, to the atnount of 12,0001. in
Pstr"age)--,-he called on, them :to do justice to their own
civil, and their own military servants, and also to his hla-
jesty's servants in India. This was the true way to secure
their interests ; and he must observe that he. was the mere
anxious to Ball
which he their attention to the Kin 's Serkice, in
had the honour of holdin,V.
a station, because it
wits not represented behind the bar. The Gallant:Colonel
then Went into ti detail of the manner in which' the three
armies of lirtga), madras,
and Bombay Were paid) and
argued that they ought all to be placed on the same fOoting.-
The Chairman was of opinion that the Court would feel'
with him that they could not enter into a discussion of
question of this kind, without its bei attended with ina-
terial inconvenience to the P
public service.He certainly
of tact
would contend that, in point ' • •
ustice, breach
of
, no inj
contract had taken place, in regard the terms on
k,ompany's service,
t the military entered into the tA) •
h , r and in conformity with which
- they were now palo.
• (11"07-7Before a case could be made out to justl y
such