The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-08 00:00:00

RIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.!
7:10x THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—A rumour has been freely circulated,
and obtains increwsing credit, that Sir Robert Peel
intends to submit to Parliament a scheme fp. taking
the power of governing the British territories in the
East out of the hands of the Hon. East India Com-
pany, and placing them immediately under the Crow n.
The misunderstanding which arose between the Court
of Directors send her Majesty's Ministers respect-
ing the reseal. of Ie rd Ellenhoroegh, and the in-
convenience and annoyance ceused to the former by
the decisive exercise of the power of recal vested in
the former body, may have given rise to the rumour,
without any more substantial fourixtion. The " wish"
may have been "father to the thought," in the mind of
the Government. The language of desire that the thing
could be accomplished, uttered by a subordinate in the
Ministry, tray have been interpreted into an inten-
tion, on the part of its Chief, to carry it into execu-
tion. We neither affirm nor deny the fact, that some
such scheme as that referred to is contemplated by the
Government. The thing is possible. The idea might
have arisen without any reference to the difference
which arose between Ministers and the Honourable
Court of Directors respecting Lord Ellenhorough.
If such a difference had never taken place, there are
circumstances which would invest the rumour with a
sufficient air of probability to justify its being treated
with respect. An investigation of the principles on
which the assumed transfer of the powers of Govern-
ment, now held by the Court of Directors, to the re-
sponsible Ministers of the Crown, may therefore be
permitted, without exposing us to the charge of
adopting a groundless rumour as an ascertained fact.
A project for adopting the debt of the East India
Company and funding it in British stock, may have
keen entertained by the Government, with a view to
accelerate the redemption of the dividend on the capital
stock of the Company. This scheme would receive an
accession of public belief, were it ascertained that the
Court of Directors has called upon the Commissioners
for the Reduction of the National Debt, in pursuance
of the 15th section of the Act of 1833, to raise for
the Company such sums of money as might be
necessary for the payment of the Company's
dividend, by reason of any failure or delay of the re-
mittances of the proper funds for such payments. If
such an event has occurred, it may be thought to fur-
nish a case for the redemption of the debt at an early
period, on the ground that the owners of the capital
stock ought not to have so large an interest at the ex-
pense of the public. The present state of the money
market is especially favourable for the purpose. Go-
vernment would be able to borrow the whole sum
required for the purpose, at a rate of interest little
more than one-half the amount per cent.
paid to the proprietors of the Hon. Com-
pany's stock. A careful perusal of the clauses
of the Act (3 and 4 Will. IV., cap. 85) has led
us to conclude that such a measure would be a
dereliction of the redemption section of the Act—
whether it would be in contravention of its principle,
supposing that the interference of the Commis-
sioners of the National Debt has been called for in
the way we have alluded to, is a point we leave
lawyers, who are disposed to apply themselves to
the question, to decide. We quote the clauses of
the Act which bear upon the subject ; and conclude
by remarking that, without pretending to a knowledge
of the plans of Ministers, there is sufficiet probability
in the rumour that some measure of the kind alluded
to will be announced, to justify our bringing the sub-
ject before the public. The provisions of the Act
should he clearly known and understood. Without
them the power of the Legislature to carry out the
supposed designs of the Government cannot be
ascertained, nor the arguments which, in the
event of the scheme being proposed in Parlia
ment, will be raised upon the question, be appreciated.
By the Act alluded to, 3 and 4 William IV., cap. 85,
intituled " An Act for effecting an arrangement with
the East India Compa-ay, and for the better govern-
ment of his Majesty's Indian territories.till the 30th
day of April, 1854," it is enacted by the 11th sec-
tion :
" That out of the revenues of the territories, there
shall be paid to or retained by the said Company to their
own use, a yearly dividend, after the rate of ten pounds
ten shillings per centum per annum on the present
amount of their capital stock ; the said dividend to be
payable in Great Britain by equal half-yearly payments,
on the 6th day of January and the 6th day of July in
every year; the first half-yearly payment to be made
on the 6th day of July, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-four."
By the 12th section it is provided and enacted—
" That the said dividend shall be subject to redemp-
tion by Parliament upon and at any time after the 30th
day of April, 1854, on payment to the Company of 2001.
sterling for every 100/. of the said capital stock, together
with a proportionate part of the same dividend, if the
redemption shall take place on any other day than any
one of the said half-yearly days of payment. Provided
also, that 12 months' notice, in writing, signified by the
Speaker of the House of Commons by the order of the
House, shall be given to the said Company of the inten-
tion of Parliament to redeem the said dividend."
And by the 13th section it is provided and enacted:—
" That if on or at any time after the said 30th day of
April, 1854, the said Company shall, by the expiration
of the term hereby granted, cease to retain, or shall by
the authority of Parliament be deprived of the posses-
sion and guvernment of the said territories, it shall be
lawful 6)r the said Company, within one year thereafter,
to demand the redemption of the said dividend, and pro-
vision shall be made for redeeming the said dividend
after the rate aforesaid, within three years after such
demand."
And by the 15th section it is provided and enacted—
" That it shall be lawful for the Commissioners for the
Reduction of the National Debt, from time to time, and
they are hereby required, upon requisition made for that
purpose by the Court of Directors of the said Company,
to raise and pay to the said Company, such sums of mo-
ney as may ba necessary for the payment of the said
Company's dividend, by reason of any failure or delay of
the remittances of the proper funds for such payment."
STANDARD.—The session of the French Cham-
bers opens auspiciously for Marshal Soult's Adminis-
tration, notwithstanding the coincidence of accidents
and misapprehensions which gave to the representative
of the Nantes slave dealers an apparently large mino-
rity in his late competition with a Ministerial can-
didate. At the first serious trial of strength—the
appointment of a committee to draw up the Address
in reply to the King's Speech—the Ministers
counted a majority of fifty-two, viz., 206 to
154. This majority—quite a sufficient working
majority by itself—will be considerably augmented
ashen 100 now absent Deputies shall appear in their
places ; for the extraordinary exertions made by the
Opposition, and the easy confidence of the pacific party
previously to the commencement of the session, give
an assurance that much the greater number of the
ebsentees must belong to the latter party ; and the
Paris Globe distinctly affirms such to be the case,
without any contradiction from the Opposition
press. There is no reason, therefore, to appre-
hend that the French people are prepared to dis-
honour themselves by stirring up a war for the sake
of' the slave trade, or willing to make war for its
own sake. The abstract hatred of England which
M. Thiers and his faction have so lung laboured to
excite, has disappeared, and all are now ashamed
to profess it ; and the pretence that England
employs the right of visit for the purpose of
crippling the trade of France, set up by the
Nantes slave dealers, has received its decisive answer
in the known readiness of the British Government
to acquiesce in any arrangement which shall re-
concile the suppression of the slave trade with
the interests and feelings of' the French people,
leaving it to France herself to determine what
that arrangement shall be. Are not the terms,
however, of the Chinese treaty even better proof
than this frank and candid offer, that England does
not seek to cripple the trade of France, or of any
other country ? She has no interest in doing so,
but the reverse; and if she be disposed to indulge
pride in the matter, what occasion of higher pride can
she have than the liberal patronage of the commerce
of the whole civilise l world' Her commercial posi-
tion is happily one that would make jealousy on her
part disgraced. Before the division. upon the ap-
pointment of the Committee, M. Guizot shortly
addressed the Chamber in an outline of what would
he, if required, a vindication of the policy of
his Government. The tone of the distinguished
statesman's observations was manly, as usual with
Lun, and calm and confident as that of a
man who knew the strength both of his cause
and his party. The deserters who have followed
lCount llole into Opposition were represented by
M. St. Marc Girardin, and may number five or
six. All of every country who respect worth and
genius must rejoice in the ascendancy of so brillant
a representative of both as M. Guizot ;• but, apart
from all considerations for the Minister deserted,
it is impossible not to regard the desertion of
M. Mole with a feeling of deep disgust. We can
forget the hatred to England of M. niers, and of
other still more violent enemies of this country,
lecause it is through a mistaken feeling, still, a French
hatred—a hatred founded upon the erroneous opinion
that the interests and honour of Great Britain and
France are irreconcileable ; but Count Mole is no more
a Frenchman in his feeling than he is an Englishman—
he is a Russian. From first to last he has never wholly
averted his eyes from St. Petersburgh. M. Guizot
is well rid of the burthen of his doubtful support,
F yen at the cost of losing the little six-handed
Russian party in the second chamber. That the
secession of the Mole party will strengthen M.
Guisot's position in France, we cannot doubt.
" Similis simili gaudet," according to the pro-tech,
as France has advanced in freedom and civilisation
—and rapid, indeed, has been her advance within
the last few years she has felt more and
more the advantage of a perfectly good un-
derstanding among all free and civilised na-
tions—has been more indisposed to despotic and
barbarous alliances. This feeling is still pro-
gressive in France, as it has long been in England,
and as it extends it will by a natural necessity, un- ,
eonnected wholly with turbulent propagandism, force