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Leader (1850-1860), 20th February 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 12, LORD PALMEUSTON'S INDIA BILL. It appears...

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      180 ^ The Leader. [No. 413, ^February 20...

      180 ^ THE LEADER . [ No . 413 , ^ February 20 , 1858 ^

      ^ Notices To Correspondents. It Is Impos...

      ^ NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . It is impossible 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 quiteindependent of the merits of the communication * ' Several communications unavoidably stand over . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended forinsertion 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 .

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      V Y V ^ J V Saturday, February 20, 1858.

      v y v ^ J v SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 20 , 1858 .

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      ^ uliiic Mair 0 .

      -* There Is Aothing So Revolutionary, Be...

      - * There is aothing so revolutionary , because there is nothinsf so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keepthings fixed when all the world is fey the very law of its creationin eternal progress . — . Akhoii .

      Lord Palmeuston's India Bill. It Appears...

      LORD PALMEUSTON'S INDIA BILL . It appears to be forgotten that the Govern'inent of India is not the only double government in Qreat 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 fa a double system ; the Governor and Company of the Bank of England form , in one sense , a 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 and 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 capi- > talists and spinsters whose votes have enthroned Babin g , Noeman , and Httbbaed in positions of immense and almost imperial ' responsibility . It is true that the Chancellor of the Exchequer presides over the moBt important of these operations ; but here the double principle comes in to play , Sir Cobnewai-i . Lewis being the

      VEBiton Smith of Threadneedle-atreet . A little consideration , indeed , might have Buggested to the wholesale Indian Reformers 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 , * ae the Company is known , as The Sirkor j unless the fairyland , ideal of Sir Hbnby RAWLiNeoN were carried out , and a little

      prince in a tunic , or a princess in rosy areophane , were sent from Buckingham Palace to Bit prettily upon the throne of Hindostan . In that case the natives would understand how to designate the power that wielded their awnies and' ~ lreld * them-in' - 'Bubjection : —But r conSxiing ourselves to practical proposals , 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 , bo long as able and conscientious men are in power at home , and so long as similar functionaries are deputed to fulfil the duties of local government . The question is , then , whether Lord PA & MBUBXon ' a hill 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 . could

      The proposed Council of Eight , however , 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 to introduce new members , thus healing up any combinations that might be formed ; and , seeing that the councillors could not sifc in Parliament , some of the yery 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 objeotion 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 . Youngnnen have been introduced into our pubr lie 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 armyP—There-will , ofcourae , Jio . longer ,

      be a Queen ' s army and a Company ' s army , but 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 Horse 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 lianas and N * awabs .

      ' The Crown' means the ascendant Minister of the day . In the first instance , he—Lord Pai / ntebstout—makes a careful selection of eight gentlemen to sit at the Council table of the Presidential Vebnon Smith , whose right hand is , possibly , Sir Henry Eawlinsoit , now near and dear , we believe , to the family circle , and adopter of the proposal which originated in the Edinburgh Reviev ) in 1810—to send out an infant viceroy of the blood royal to Calcutta . The ? , eight members , retiring by rotation , to he 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 First 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 bat supreme , without any council whatever , and the abolition of the local machinery as at present existing at Calcutta . To this public opinion was universally 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 Pai-mebston ' s bill in the Houses of Parliament , we question whether it provides a guarantee for the effectual accomplishment or even the safe undertaking of this task , enormous in its difficulty and responsibility .

      _ The French Alliance. Loud Fai^Mebston,...

      _ THE FRENCH ALLIANCE . Loud Fai ^ mebston , re b ~ uKing ~~ M ' rT ~' G « iffitks , laid himself open to contradiction on two points . He said there had been attacks in Parliament on ' the French nation . ' There had been no such attack , and the Houho or Commons would do well to challenge horn pAiiMBBSTON to ap , explanation . Tho insulter of France is the man who declares thab the French Emperor was ' the * P ° * ± * taneous choice of tho French nation . ' J "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20021858/page/12/