The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

INDIA.

Lord NORMANBY rose, pursuant to notice, to take
the first opportunity on which they had the pleasure of
seeing his Noble Friend the President of the Board of
Control in his place, to put a question on the subject of
the correspondence of the Board of Directors of the East
India Company with her Majesty's Government. Under
the peculiar circumstances in which he meant to put
this question to his Noble Friend, it was neces-
sary for him to make a few preliminary
i observa-
tions. He might be more strictly n order
in moving for the production of those papers, but at the
same time, now, as hitherto, he had every reason to be.
lieve that those papers would be produced by her
Majesty's Government, and if not, the refusal to pro-
duce them could only be based upon one ground, which,
if stated cn the responsibility of his Noble Friend,
he (the' Marquis of Normanby) should not be
prepared to resist. He thought, then, it would be more
convenient if he adopted the more informal but more usual
course of putting a question,
few observations on the subject-matter. When certain
opinions were pronounced in that House in answer to a
question from his Noble Friend on the subject, he (the
Marquis of Normanby) thought that the immediate
consequence would be the production of all the corres-
pondence so as to enable the House to form ajudgment on
the matter. On that occasion he stated that he regretted that
they had not an immediate answer as to the production
of those papers. The Noble Duke stated, at the time,
that though they were not prepared to give an imme-
diate answer, yet that Parliament had an undoubted
right to the fullest information on the subject.--
(Expressions of dissent from the Duke of Wellington.)
He (the Marquis of Normanby) had certainly so under-
stood the Noble Duke. He might also allude to what
passed on another occasion, in another place, when two
of the Hon. Gentlemen connected with the administra-
tion of Indian affairs, stated that they hoped, in spite of
what passed in their Lordships' House, public opinion
would be suspended till the papers were produced, and
her Majesty's Prime Minister, in answer, stated that he
was not prepared at once to produce the papers. He (the
Marquis of Normanby) might therefore infer that up to that
time no conclusive reason was entertained by the parties
interested against the production of those papres; at
the same time, if his Noble Friend opposite should state
that the production of those papers at the present
moment would be detrimental to the public service,
he should not press for their production. He regretted
that such decided ensure had been pronounced on the
conduct of certain parties in the affair, though he must
state that his regret, was by no means inconsistent, with
the high respect which he as well as the rest of their
Lordships' all bore to the Noble Duke who pronounced
that censure. However, as a deliberative assembly
their Lordships should protest against any
weight being attached to that censure. He
thought that they were bound not only as members
of a deliberative assembly, but as the highest court of
judicature in this country, to hear before they con-
demned.—(Hear.) If there were any strong objection
to the production of those papers, he should feel his re-
gret at the premature expression of opinion on the part
of the Noble Duke very much increased.—(Hear.) The
power of the Court of Directors to recal the Governor-
General had existed more than half a century, and the
present was the first time that any collision between
the Board and the Government had taken place.
Now, he would ask, was there anything in the
constitution of the Court of Directors, which might
incline them to take views adverse to the present Go-
vernment ? Certainly not. It was well-known that the
majority of the Court of Directors were of the same
political opinions with her Majesty's present Government;
and it was natural to inquire what could be the cause
of their disagreement with the Government in this mat-
ter ?—(Hear.) He by no means thought that a ma-
jority of his fellow-countrymen were more in favour of
her Majesty's Ministers, but still it could not be denied
that they were backed by a majority of ninety in
the other House of Parliament which had not
yet run through half the term of its existence. It could