On this page
- Departments (2)
-
Text (8)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
/^^pN 7iCC\ a vJjBj^) ^/j^^ < 2pA^ ^ c ^ ^W j\ 44/ JO^ A^lt , IlJLJIP jE jL' ? -?~ * ^^fd^T^' ^ J " ^ Vy
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
y^ r f m (Sf# * J^ttUllC JfUfttiriSL *
-
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
180 T H E 1 E A DEB . [ No . 413 a ffEBRTTAitr 20 , 1858
Untitled Article
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . It is im possible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quiteindependeut of the merits of the communication ' Several communications unavoidably stand over . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whateverisintendedforinsertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
/^^Pn 7icc\ A Vjjbj^) ^/J^^ ≪ 2pa^ ^ C ^ ^W J\ 44/ Jo^ A^Lt , Iljljip Je Jl' ? -?~ * ^^Fd^T^' ^ J " ^ Vy
"SB ™ * C
Untitled Article
There is nothing so revolutionary , because tbereis gfaswasssssafJBK ^ ffls- ^ a ^ law of its creation in eternal progress . — BkAbhoip .
Untitled Article
LORD PALMERSTON'S INDIA BILL . It appears to be forgotten that the Government of India is not the only double government in Great Britain . Our institutions rest upon a system of double governments . Parliament itself is double ; the administration of the National Debt is double ; the metropolis has a double government ; the Poor-law is a double system ; the Governor and Company of the Bank of England form , in one sensea parallel to the East India Company .
, The principle of absolute unity belongs to despotism and centralization . Therefore , the advocates of a direct Crown responsibility must ^ be cautious not to push that principle too far . Otherwise , when Ministers have condemned the miscellaneous constituency which returns a majority of the Court of Directors , a party in the country ar id the Legislature may demand to know why the grand financial operations of the empire , the management ot the National Debt , the control of the exchanges ,
the regulation of the currency , should belong to the members of a company elected by a medley and fluctuating constituency of capitalists and spinsters whose votes have enthroned Babin g , Noeman , and Hubbabd in positions of immense and almost imperial responsibility . It is true that the Chancellor of the Exchequer presides over the mo ^ t important of these operations ; but here the double principle comes in to
play , Sir Cobnewale . Lewis beiug the Vbbnon Smith of Threadneedle-street . A little consideration , indeed , might have suggested to the wholesale Indian Keformers the inconvenience of arguing this question upon the abstract merits of a single , as compared with a double machinery . That the title of the Queen , if pompously proclaimed , would exercise a salutary influence , may also be doubted . She would probably be known , as the Company is known , as The Sirkar ; unless the fairyland ideal of Sir Henby BAWiiiiTBON were carried out , and a little
prince in a tunic , or a princess in rosy areopbane , were sent from Buckingham Palace to sit prettily upon the throne of Hindostan . In that case the natives would understand how to designate the power that wielded their armies and held them in subjection . But , Conttning-ouraelve 8 » to . praoticaUproposal 8 , ~ we do not think it matters whether the Company and the Board of Control , or the Crown advised by a Council , administers the affairs of India , so long as able and conscientious men are in power at home , and so long a » similar functionaries are deputed to fulfil the duties of local government . The question is , then , whether Lord PAi * M&KSTON ' a bill opens a prospect of a
more vigorous and beneficent government in India . Its uncompromising advocates in Parliament have laid too much stress upon the slow progress of railway and other enterprise in British India . The analogy of America is altogether inapplicable . Upon that continent a teeming European population has carried on those vast works at its own cost , and for its own profit . In India , if the Government has not to construct the lines , it has to guarantee their success ; and it must be admitted that
the task is more difficult in the one country than in the other . " We have not found the Crown too willing to enter into speculations for the public benefit , nor are we disposed to believe that it would effect a rapid regeneration of India , although it would enjoy the immense advantage of working upon a broad , solid , and magnificent basis prepared by the East India Company . Lord Palmebston ' s bill , intended to effect this change , is a curious admixture of modern Reform ideas with those of the plan prepared
by Fox , with its responsible Septemvirate , and other checks upon the royal authority . The proposed Council of Eight , however , could in no way be regarded as an independent body . It would be nominated by the Crown ; it would be too small to exercise deliberative functions in the true spirit of deliberation ; with the President would rest , except in cases of peace or war , the option of receiving or rejecting its advice ; he would be vested with the power periodically % o introduce new members , thus healing up any combinations that might be formed ; and , seeing that the councillors could not sit in Parliament , some of the very
best men possible would be excluded . The only persons representing the government of India in the Legislature would be the President and his Secretary , who , of Course , would be of one mind . It is not clear whether the protests of the councillors would be laid before the public . This division of the subject is of serious importance , and we earnestly commend it to the attention of gentlemen on both sides of the House . Moreover , it is evident ; that to vest the Governor-General with the right of appointing the local councils is still further to tighten the grasp of the Crown —that is to say , of the " Whig and Tory aristocracies in rotation—upon the immense domains of Great Britain in Asia .
The councillors would share with the President a certain proportion of the Indian patronage . But only nominally . They would appoint cadets , who , upon examination , might be plucked by the local authorities . To this no objection applies . With all its difficulties , the competitive principle is a sound one , and has already weakened the close borough
system of the great departments at home . Youngmen have been introduced into ourpublic offices , in considerable numbers , who would never have had a chance under the former principle . Still , the practice of competition is as yet an experiment , while We are legislating for the permanent government of India . ° Not a few thoughtful and discerning minds have had their confidence shaken as to
the net value of the system , so far as it affects the efficiency of practical administration . Writerships are already open to competition . But the army ? There will , of course , no longer , be . a ~ Queen !! s . army , aud . a 0 ompanyZa , army ,. fc . Et there will be a Queen ' s army and an aggregate of local corps , on a level with the Ceylon Rifles and the Cape Mounted Rifles . To this will the magnificent army of the East India Company descend : but it is easy to detect , through the complexities of the Government measure , the golden clue that will lead every candidate for an Indian commission to seek for favour at the Horee Guards . The
independent and elective principle having been detached from , the entire Indian Government , there remains nothing but Ministerial ' discretion' upon a mighty scale . The last check upon the Governor-General will be destroyed , and we much overrate the talents of the heaven-born , if they do not practise high political agriculture in a field the fruits of which are star-pagodas and jewels , large salaries , rapid fortunes , and presents from Ranas and Nawabs .
' The Crown' means the ascendant Minister of the day . In the first instance , he—Lord PaiiMebston—makes a careful selection of eight gentlemen to sit at the Council table of the Presidential Veenon Smith , -whose right hand is , possibly , Sir Henkt EawiiiNSOK , now near and dear , we believe , to the family circle , and adopter of the proposal which originated in the Edinburgh Revieiv in 1810—to send out an infant viceroy of the blood royal to Calcutta . The eight members , retiring by rotation , to be replaced by other nominees , exercise only one positive function . Four of their number must concur with the Chairman before he
can go to war . Otherwise , they can only state their views , and record their objections . They can nominate certain cadets to be approved of by the local authorities in India . These local authorities are appointed exclusively by the Cabinet , which , whatever may be said , gains thus a vast sweep of patronage , for it names a Governor-General to do its work without the fear of the Company in its eyes . Hence radiate innumerable lines of patronage , and we think it will be generally understood , when these features of the bill are closely inspected , that it is intended to put the British Indian Empire into the pocket of the JTirst Minister .
At the same time , it is less objectionable than the plans originally suggested by the advocates of immediate change . Those plans , as at first adopted , we believe , by the Government , included the creation of an Indian Secretaryship , all but supreme , without any council whatever , and the abolition of the local machinery as at present existing at Calcutta . To this public opinion was universall y opposed , and we have now something in the nature of a compromise . But does this prove that the moment for a
sweeping Indian revolution has arrived ? Does it not suggest the wisdom of delay ? We have to remember that , if the government of India has been difficult hitherto , it must be more difficult hereafter for many years to come , for we have to reconstruct important parts of the engine while the other parts are worked at high pressure . We have , with party Government incessantly in action , to keep India free from party influence . Otherwise we lose
it . We have to reorganize the army , to bring the country under a system of fortifications , to create naval harbours on the Eastern and Western coasts , and , whatever may become of Lord Palmebston ' s bill in the Houses of Parliament , we question whether it provides a guarantee for the effectual accomplishment or even the safe undertaking ot this taisk , enormous in its difficulty and responsibility .
Untitled Article
THE FRENCH ALLIANCE . XfP . Bj ^ PAX-MJSBSxowr , rebuking Mr . GniiririTJEis , laia"liirnaerf 6 p ^ n ^ t"F ^ on £ ral 3 r 6 tioiron' two points . Ho said there had been attacks in Parliament on ' the French nation . ' There had been no such attack , and the Hou « o ot OommoiiB would do well to challenge Lord Palmmbston to an explanation . The insulter of France is the man w declares that the French Emperor was ' the spontaneous choice of the French nation . ' It
Y^ R F M (Sf# * J^Ttullc Jfufttirisl *
^ ttblir MaiiB .
Untitled Article
SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 20 , 1858
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 180, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2231/page/12/
-