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Untitled Article
v ^ rfti -ui the _^^ . jr rival "Chancellors . The India Bill has at length gdfc to its le * t stages in the House of Commons , having sttStained two amendments this week * Sir John Pafcington dug up the . grievances of the salt monopoly—for the trade is still ft monopoly in the hands of the East India Company , although slightly modified some years hack . The Company still retains the sole control of the salt works in India , and only admits salt from beyond the sea on payment of an excessive duty . The manufacture of salt in India is rendered free by Sir John
Pakington ' s resolution , subject only to excise or customs duty . This is a great step . The other amendment carried by Mr . Vernon Smith , to which Government did not dare offer a resistance , increased the salary of the President of the Board of Control to 5000 / . and appointed a permanent Secretary to the department . In both respects we regard it as being a substantial improvement of the
central government . The President is now raised to the rank of a Secretary of State . The permanent Under Secretary will increase the efficiency of the Crown part of the Indian government , and so facilitate the obvious tendency of the whole series of those reforms , to bring India more directly under the control of the Crown instead of the Company .
Mr . Blackett pressed an amendment , obliging the Minister for India to lay a certain portion of Indian finances annually before Parliament . That would have been a form of securing a practical and an attentive discussion upon Indian affairs in the House of Commons , and it could not have failed to be very useful . Lord John Russell , indeed , allowed that such a
statement would be useful ; but he ridiculed thfr idea of requiring it by act of Parliament , and went so far as to hint that Parliament might as well fix the length of the speech to be made . The" silliness of this sneer is only equalled by its impertinence ; and if Mr . Blackett blushed at the insult , it was probably not for himself , but for a statesman who reduced himself to the level of his
footman . Archbishop Whately has thrown up his seat at the Board of National Education in Ireland , for reasons which we have already explained . Certain works of unsectarian religion were used in the model schools , and the general character of liberal and non-dogmatic religion formed an attribute of the system , of which Sir John Young , the Secretary for Ireland , has twice—once since this dispute—made an emphatic boast . The unsectarian
character of these little works , which had been composed by Archbishop Whately , and revised by Dr . Murray , provoked the dislike of the Orange party and the Ultramontane party ; and we have already explained the manoeuvres by which the Ultramontane party , with the help of the other , caused one of these works to be proscribed , and created a dispute about the others . Under pretence of sepai-ating religious from secular teaching ,
these extreme bigots were really trying to undermine the system . Government has fallen in with their plan ; has accepted the letter in lieu of the spirit , and has so eompi'omised the management that Dr . Whately felt himself to be virtually " dismissed . " That it is Jnot a personal feeling on his part is proved by the fact , that Baron Greene , and Mr . Blackburn , the Irish Chancellor of the late Government , join him in resignation . Simultaneously with his retirement from the Board , Archbishop Whaitely appears as the leader ( f ^ l ' . W . J ' ^* . ? * of a new society , to protect those who suffer for y ^ K ^ Sf 1 \ ^ o " ' Hhe sake of conscience—those of nil sects , or of Sij V ^ lv- ^ ' •' vXv \ 'i'l' /^ P scct » those of proscribed religious opinions , or ^^^ H ^ a ^ t ^^ 'Hy ^ l no re % * opinions . The society does not "* UraP' / !' jAVJp yfe pwdertake to protect them from outrages such as V ^^^^^ f ^ lrx ^^^* ^ w *^ £ ' ve re ^ rC 8 S ft > r ' > * from t ^ perse-\^ v ^~^^ £ -. ' ' J cution of non-employment , exclusive dealing , or $ 131 tl V 3 ^ B * he ** » This society is a paramount fact , and it
almost consoles tis lor the fcioral treachery with which the Gov ^ ment has permitted the united Orange and Ultramontane party to lay the axe at the root of the flutional sy stein © f education . In respect to the Russo-TtMfkish afiair , the latest events throw no new light upon its progress , but rather obscure it thfe more . The temperate and
diglolled protest which Turkey has made against the occupation of the Principalities , shows that , down to the 2 nd of this month , the position of the Porte was unaltered ; the reports that the Emperor had become more gracious appear to be altogether without proof , and to be rather contradicted by more probable reports , that he views the propositions for reconciliation with coldness * The
gathering of troops in Bessarabia is against all professions of Russian moderation , threatening Turkey as they do on a new point . The attempt of the Danish court to abolish the constitution of Denmark , because the Diet resists the attempt of the King to abolish a law of two centuries , which is one barrier against the succession of the Russian family to the Danish throne , seems to i&how that the unrelaxing and ubiquitous designs of Russia find tools as readily in the North as in the South ; the Danish monarch excelling in his fidelity even that Servian chief who promises " neutrality /* when his suzerain , the Sultan , calls upon him to
defend his country against invasion . The Four Powers—Austria , France , England , and Prussia , are now said to be of accord , and active in the effort to promote peace ; but whether they are in accord upon the course already struck out by France and England , or whether there is to be some faltering , it is as set impossible to tell .
Only this seems to be certain , amid the general suspense and obscurity , that Russia perseveres , and that Austria is bent on forcing the United States into an European quarrel—for there is a duplicate of the Kossta case at Beyrout , an Hungarian refugee , pursued by Austrians , and protected from violence by the American consul .
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THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT . THE INDIA BILL . The long Committee on this bill has at length come to a close , after three sittings this week . On Monday evening , and at a morning sitting on Tuesday , various amendments were proposed , and all save one rejected . Sir Heney Willoxtghbx moved a clause to enable the Secret Committee to protest , if they thought fit , against the orders of the Board of Control which they are bound to transmit . But Sir James Hogg pointed out that if protests existed they would be called for by Parliament—and that would be inconvenient ; besides , the Secret Committee would become a little Parliament rather harassing to the Minister . Put to the vote the clause was lost by 52 to 30 . Mr . Hume moved a clause extending the constituency which elects the Court of Directors to persons holding 600 ? . of stock , retired civil and Military servants , and others . To Mr . Lowe was entrusted the task of making out a case against the clause . This he did briefly , by showing that the prohibition to canvassing had been removed , consequently the evil would exist in full force even under the bill ; hut hero was a proposition to extend it still further . Then the clause would include persons who are not members of tho company , contrary to the decision of the House , that the Government of India should be through the Company . Assertions were made in an opposite sense by eevoral members ; but , on ji division , tho clause was rejected by 74 to 50 . Mr . llion moved a clause , tho object of which was to give practical efficiency to the clause of tho old act , enacting that religion , colour , birth descent , should bo no bar to the employment of natives . The question was , had the natives been employed as fully as came up to the intentions of tho act of 1833 P It seemed that they had not ., Mr . Buieurr , Lord -Stanley , and Sir Chart / kb Woojj all agreed on tho propriety and justice of employing natives : Sir Charles , while resisting- tho clause , promising that they should bo employed more and paid bettor in future . The clauflo was thrown out by 1 / 73 to 47 . On Tuesday morning , as early an twelve , tho House wont into Committee again . Mr . J . G . Phii / mmohe moved a qLiubo enacting that tho Queen ' s judges in India should form u supremo Court for deciding all cases bctwoon tho Government and tho nativo princes
Mr . Pitt , Sir Robert Peel , and Sir John Malcolm l / ,, all sug&dltea a tribunal of this kind , and , indeed- was imperatively necessary in order that native priu ' maybe protectedfrom the cruelty , injustice , and rapajk of the Coutt of Directors . The clause , however , opposed , * and fouftdsucli small favour in the House thf it was negatived \ vithout a division . Mr Bright moved a clause providing that tl affairs of Ittdift « b . Ottld be transacted under one roof that the Court of Directors and the Board of Control should be ht for that
brougtogether purpose , and tb . East India House sold to defray expenses . It would diminish annual expense , and promote efficiency bv decreasing the delay and curtailing the mass of corres . pondence . Sir ChabIiES Wood said there was to delay—not of one hour—in consequence of the distance from Leadenhall' -street from Cannon-row . Mr . Vebnok SMTitf , who declared he had had longer experience of the India Board than Sir Charles , said on the con . trary that great delay was occasioned . On a division the clause was rejected by 74 to 61— -a narrow
majority . Mr . Veeiton Smith presumed he should not meet with any Opposition from Sir Charles Wood in the clause he was about to submit . He moved th at the salary and position of the President of the Board of Control be raised to the level of that of a Secretary of State—5000 ? . He also proposed that there should be one political and one permanent secretary of the Board , instead of two political secretaries . This proposition Ministers thought fit to accept , and to that end aptly made choice of Lord Pai / mebston to
express their concurrence . - There were very good reasons why it was impossible that the President of the Board of Control , under the existing state of things , should assume the title of Secretary of State . So long- as the government of India was conducted upon the double principle , the commands / of her Majesty could not be conveyed , and therefore the Minister who directed that department could not assume the functions of a Secretary of State . But he entirely agreed with the right honourable gentleman in thinking it desirable that , with regard to dignity , position , and salary , the President of the Board of Control Bhould ' be placed on The footing of
a Secretary of State . It was impossible to deny that the consideration which he ought to enjoy , so far as that consideration depended on the means which the salary afforded , ought to be equal to that enjoyed by a Secretary of State . There qught , in fact , to be no distinction between the Minister of the Crown who performed the important duties of President of the Board of Control , and the position occupied by any of her Majesty ' s Secretaries of State . It was customary to say that salary was wholly unimportant , or that it Was merely an object of grasping and selfiib Tiews . He looked upon this matter not as a person in possession of office under the Crown . He trusted he murht be
allowed the right of looking upon it in the quality of an independent member of Parliament , and merely as to its effects upon the public service . Whether in or out of office he behaved it Was of advantage to the public service that persons holding high and important offices under the Government should receive salaries commensurate with the position , the functions performed , and the expenses to which , in the performance of those functions , they were necessarily exposed . The point to be considered in a trues . tion of this kind was , that obviousl y persons whose whole time and thoughts were absorbed in public duties coma not nav attention to the prosecution of their private affairs . sal
He thought , therefore , that whatever might be the ary which Parliament might deem right , as attaching to tfie office of a Secretary of State , that ought also to be n » Balary attaching to the position of President of the Vow of Control ; and thiB opinion he had taken upon himseii to state , because naturally it was one which th * "jrj honourable gentleman now holding that office would **" a delicacy in giving utterance to . On this point , then , a was quite 4-eady to agree with the proposal of Mr- "T Smith . The second point brought under the notice ol in « committee by him was also of the utmost importance . J * proposed by the oxclusion from tho House of one orw »
secretaries of tho Board of Control to ensure the pcrm » noncy of one of tho secretaries of that board . It ^ V cloubtedly , impossible to overrate the advantage ot Jia »» fa in each department a permanent secretary , , sWft ^ i tho feelings engendered in political contests , and P " of tho knowledge and the lore necessary to a full cony ? hension of tho often arduouB and intricate duties oi post . It was most desirable to have in each deparin a man of judgment and discretion , able to give totn e comer into oflico tho sort of information which he i rnmiirn ns to wast nvnntn . an to tho Drinciplea regu b
the department , and aB to tho character ofin < ^ . , *! tiiia nectcd in various ways with its operation !* . Witlio ^ kind of information it was impossible for any B ?* ^ uticfl oVor able and however judicious , to perform lus ij ie with Hfttisfaction do himself , or with tho advantage w ^ public which ho would naturally dosiro to contoi ; . ^ therefore , most cordially assented to tho proposal ^ hond which had been made by hia right honourabi ° > ' nt Ho was sure that tho Government , that no Govc" j y 0 would regret tho loss of tho udvantago they m 3 , atae nt from tho proaonco of a second aoorotary in Afl ^ yjc convenience
When more than balanced by tho ™ " £ 0 ' ntr 0 l . of having a permanent eeerotary at the Board ot ^ Mr . W » mam Wicmamb dissented , and » trU" fcJ , with an insinuation . It would no doubt bo tho" ^ op t , concession in Homo quarters that the Qovor ^ which had steadily rejected ovory other amendniji ^ their biU , had eo promptly and generously reponw **
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THE L EAD E R . . [ SaturDay I
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1997/page/2/
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