On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
creating dissatisfaction to everybody . The Directors are disgusted because their privileges are invaded . India will be dissatisfied because her most crying grievances are nob yet touched . Existing interests—families who regard India as a provision for all their younger sons , will be outraged at the proposal to throw the appointments open to public competition : but the public will observe that a large proportion of these appointments , all of the purely military kind , are preserved to the Directors . The measure may be described in its general
characteristics with comparative brevity . The present machinery is retained throughout—Board of Control , Board of Directors , Governor-Genera ] , Presidencies , each with its Governor , Executive Council , British courts of law , Com pany ' s courts , Native courts , tenure of land zemindary , ryotwary , village system—all left as it is in the principal classifications . But there are striking modifications . The Directors , now thirty in number , of whom , six are always out of office for a year in rotation , will be reduced to twelve , elected hy the present constituency , the holders of stock ; and six Directors will be
nominated by Government from persons who have served in India for ten years . In India , a Lieutenant-Governor appointed to Bengal will release the Governor-General from his local duties , and so far enable him to act with greater efficiency for the whole . Anew province for the Indus will probably lead to the creation of a new province in the North . But a more important change in the general government of India itself , is the formation of a legislative council , formed of twelve members , selected from the principal public servants , and with two or three of the chief judges . This council is to be charged with the passing of laws for India . The administration of the law is
to be reformed by an amalgamation of the Sudder courts with the supreme courts in the three Presidencies , blending the corrupt Company ' s courts with the incorrupt British courts , and thus probably elevating the former . And the salaries of the lower native judges are to be raised . The admission of scholarships in Haileybury and Addiscombe , and the commissions of the assistant-surgeons , are to be thrown open to public competition by examination , so far
opening the preserve of patronage to the public at largo . The students for strictly military commissions are , however , preserved . From a close inspection of the present plan we see that it includes the means of effecting considerable improvements by these changes of machinery ; but the improvements Avill necessarily be slow , and for that reason the measure will seriously disappoint those in India aijd in this country , who see the possibility of commencing improvements that might at once realize practical results .
One excuse or accusation , for it takes both forms , in reference to the dealing with this subject , is the " ignorance" which exists in this country . Now , there in a great amount of ignorance , but there is a proportionate amount of infornmtion , only it happens that the information is as one-Hided ailthe interests are . The Company is well informed— -oil its own proceedings in India . The retailers of grievances are perfectly up in that subject , but are precluded , partly by the secresy of the Company , from understanding very well the official proceedings . Government 1 < iiowk all about war and the movi'mmiU nf
ordnance ; but it takes its reports of political , commercial , and social affairs , from the Company and its officers . The consolidated interests of the stock-holders and of the long canvassing candidates , amply represented at the Board of Directors , shut out the most distinguished servants in India , who retire home ; and who , after trying to make their way into the Government of India , hold buck in disgust at the- humiliating process through which they must pass to their seats . And thus they , who lire the best informed , are prevented from using their influences for the public benefit . ' ' Flu * , provision which adds six Government nominees to the . Directorate ) will tend to
correct this defect ; but it has not corrected the progress of the deliberations thus far , nor taught Ministers to construct such a measure jih India really demands . The subject is vast , and each section of those parties who have moved in it has dealt with his own favourite-portion ; hence , when ail moot in council to prepare notes , their data do not tally , and there is tins general and reciprocal charge of " ignorance . " A splendid opportunity was afforded by the occasion , and the Bkotch of thia Government
measure , for the Company to advance as a competitor , and to excel it as a reformer . With all the information at the command of the Company with its preoccupation of the chief post—with its admirable staff of servants—with its knowledge of Indian customs and capacities—it might , if it had been ruled by master minds , have brought forward a scheme less entangled , simpler , much larger , and far more important in its results , than the Government scheme . TJnfortunatelv it has happened that the constituents
of the Directors , a very multifarious though limited body , holding a certain amount of public stock , have been more governed by quid pro quo considerations of the lowest kind than by any knowledge or interest in Indian affairs . The qualification for becoming a Director was to be a person capable of collecting the favour of that peculiarly ill-constructed body , and in most cases it was necessary , not only to procure that favour , but to retain it for a period of seven years , during which the candidate underwent the deminds
basing effect of canvassing . Even strong could" hardly resist a process so demoralizing , but some of the minds subjected to it were from the first congenial . The consequence has been that the Directors are not competent to be reformers ; they can only appear in this debate with complaints that theirx own privileges are abridged , with assertions that they have achieved much for India , and with statements of such kind that if their spokesman , Sir James Weir Hoggwere accused of direct falsity , we , _ at
, least , should feel ourselves unable to defend him . His speech is full of statements of transparent prevarication . For instance , with a show of candour , he confesses that the Directors have not done all they might for education in India . "To err is human , to forgive divine ; " but something has been done—there arc so many schools of a mixed kind , and so many for the vernacular ; now amongst these we notice one mixed school in Madras , but we should like to know something of the history of that school , —whether
it was established by the Directors , or in their teeth ? Sir James spoke of the Court of Directors as composed of persons acquainted with India ; and if retired Indian servants were not elected to it , he said , they might have been so : as if everybody did not know the humiliating process which precludes persons of real dignity from persevering in the attempt to make their way to the Board ! The Aff ' ghan war , said Sir James , was not an Indian war , but was waged for European objects ; it cost 15 , 000 , 000 ^ . ; " restore that money , and then Mr . Bright would
not call upon the Court of Directors in vain for public works and internal improvements ; " as if the warlike zeal of the Board of Control was the sole cause of the slight regard which the Directors have shown to the material improvement of India ! Sir James ventured to assert , that no ryot can be removed from his holding so long as he shall pay a fixed rent ; now it is not true that the rent is " fixed , " for everybody knows that while the nominal rent is fixed , it is the business of the collector to make " allowances ; " and thus , under the name of a fixed rent , the miserable
tenant is rack-rented by a yearly valuation . lhese are but specimens of the gross prevarications with which Sir James Hogg ' s speech was interspersed ; instead of appearing as a true statesman , the representative of the Directors appeared as their prevaricating apologist . The Court of the Directors is an attempt to govern a vast dependency of England without employing English politicians or statesmen : it is said to bo a mode of " avoiding our party
divisions ; " but inasmuch as all working politicians in this country , all statesmen , are ranged in one party or other , the attempt to pass beyond the bounds of party carries us below the range of statesmanship , and such a thing as the double Government , is the result . The only check to empirical Government , through the representatives of stockholders , a Government infinitely below the directory of any railway , would l ) o the actual presence of Indians in London , to throw something like an Indian
voice into public opinion . Until JndiaiiH form some such representation for themselves , they never Avill obtain due attention from this country .
UNUliANl ) ( IROWUNU III * TO ENFHANCJIJSKMKNT . Tin ; other night , wlien some one expressed his disapproval of a portion of the financial scheme , not by any wound truin of reasoning , but by an
inarticulate exclamation , Mr . Gladstone thought it sufficient to remind him that the subject was one of figures and argument , and was quite incapable of other settlement . It is difficult to describe the kind of satisfaction with which the monthly returns of the Board of Trade are regarded by the commercial world . They may indicate prosperity or the reverse , but whatever be the precise nature of their revelations , they present a certain criterion . They appeal to the critical faculty , and leave little room for the exercise of the imagination . We can , indeed , f liveh
believe it possible for some' merchant o / fancy to make these prosaic figures the basis of magnificent dreams , and even of wild speculations ; but , on the whole , we cannot doubt that they are discussed with soberness and self-restraint . The returns with which we were favoured on Wednesday last present some remarkable features . In the table of exports we find only two exceptions to an unexampled increase . In beer and ale there has been an increase of 75 , 7371 ., as compared with the corresponding period of last year ; in butter , of 13 , 282 ^ . ; in cotton
manufactures , of 518 , 011 ? . ; in hardware and cutlery , of 106 , 595 L ; in haberdashery and millinery , of 160 , 873 ^ . ; and so forth through the whole list of articles . The only exception is in the cases of wool and woollen goods ; but the limited exportation of these articles may be attributed to the large demand which has existed for them at home . The signs of increased prosperity are no less plainly marked in the table of imports , where we find an increase in every instanee . The first thing to be observed is , that our exports and imports are increasing pretty
much in the same ratio . If we are paying our gold to foreigners , the " reciprocity" is not " all on one side , " for the value of the exports continues to keep ahead of the value of the imports ; and the most remarkable manifestation of this is in connexion with our Australian trade . Month by month we are exporting shiploads of men , women , and children , to that " land of luck . " Month by month , therefore , we are widening and strengthening our relations with the most prosperous of our colonies . Every man , woman , and child wants , and will continue to want , many
articles of English manufacture , and the extent of their demand upon our home produce is plainly marked by the Trade Returns of Wednesday last . But in addition to this , we have to note the wide surface of our present prosperity . It is not confined to an increase in one or two articles , but is spread over all . There is not a branch of industry in the United Kingdom which does not exhibit marks of unusual activity . Never , so far as we know , was there a time when the working-classes had so little cause to complain . There may bo some idle hands , but the fault is in themselves , far more than in the want of demand for labour . There are some in every trade ,
to say nothing of professions , who will never work so long as they can be idle ; who prefer the excitements of idleness to the more sober enjoyments of stead y industry . But , apart from tins , it is acknowledged on all sides that there are l ' vw who may not live , if they will , in comparative comfort . An additional proof of this may be gathered from the demand for a higher rate of wages , to which we drew attention last week , and which is now spreading through all our large manufacturing towns . The masters have , in most cases , complied ; and even listened with patience to further demands on the part of the men for a reduction in tho hours of labour . In
. Liverpool , the musters have decided to resist , and wo await tho result of the struggle . But , even if successful , the continual re-appearance of this discussion is important , so far as it proves that its ultimate decision is but a question of time . Every time that the demand is made , with reason and calmness , on the purl of the men , we are so much nearer tho time when masters will acknowledge that capital , like labour , has its duties .
Wo should be glad to think that every advance in material comfort was accompanied by an advance in moral and intellectual condition . It is , of course s impossible that thoro should be a demand for luxuries among our masses , unless it be accompanied by an increased refinement . If they despise their fathers' food , they have risen above their fathers' notion of physical enjoyment . It is lamentable to bo assured that intellectual progress lags far behind physical progress . The workman receives largo wagow , but lie spends thorn in riotous living . " Well , tho now iWorm Bill
Untitled Article
-m THE LEADER . [ Saturday , UUU : ^ —————»¦
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 11, 1853, page 566, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1990/page/14/
-