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No. 419, Aprii, 3,1858-3 THE LEADER, 321
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- Leader Office, Saturday, April 3rd. AM...
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The New India Bm, and Lord Palmerston's ...
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IK THIS DIPAETMKNT, AS AI.X. OPINIONS, H...
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There is no learned man but will confess...
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THE NEW INDIA BILL. (To the Editor of th...
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Transcript
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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.
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Miscellaneous The Cocbt.—The Queen And T...
John-street , Fitzroy-square—a celebrated place for revolutionary gatherings—what he called " a funeral oration" on Felice Orsini , -whom lie highly eulogized . There was a munerous attendance . The Latk Douglas Jbrroux—We are glad to see ? hat Mr . Blanchard Jerrold is about to commence , in the May part of the National Magazine , a series of articles on * Tha Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold . ' They will make the publication in which they appear a eolden beehive of bright and generous conceits . The Cask of the Cagliari . —Dr . Travers Twiss , the Vicar-General , has published a long and elaborate opinion on thia case . He conceives that the seizure and detention of the vessel is illegal .
The Bishop op Jerusalem has been forbidden by the British consul to absent himself from Jerusalem for more than two hours at a time for the present , on account of certain arbitrary proceedings taken by him and others against a Christianized Jew , the only Protestant hotel-keeper in Jerusalem , and at present dragoman to our representative . The other enemies of the Israelite have been placed under the same prohibition . Mb . John Seaward , the engineer , well known for various works which he has executed in connexion with iron bridges , docks , canals , & c , and for his improvements in steam-engines , died on Friday week at his residence at Camden Town . .
A Result of the Niger Expedition . —The ship George arrived at Liverpool on Wednesday with a cargo of palm oil and ivory from Laird ' s Town , Africa , being the first commercial result of the Niger expedition sent ont by Mr . Macgregor Laird , of London . The Passion Week Entertainments . —Although \ re may not indulge in theatrical performances of the Ordinary kind in Passion Week , we are not debarred from various kinds of recreation . During the present week the Pyne and Harrison . Company have been singing at Dury Lane in a series of concerts given by themselves . On Tuesday evening Mr . Hullah gave the Ia 9 t
( for the present season ) of his orchestral concerts , to the regret of all lovers of music ; and , during the Whole of the week , Miss Julia St . George has been attracting her admirers to Sadler's Wells by a musical and dramatic entertainment , on the plan of Miss P . Horton ' s , called 'Home and Foreign Lyrics ' —a pleasant miscellany of harmonious nationalities . On Wednesday evening , the Sacred Harmonic Society gave its usual Passion Week performance at Exeter Hall of the 2 fessiah , when the vocalists included Madame Castellan , Miss Dolby , Mr . Sims Reeves , and Mr . Thomas . The conductor was Mr . Costa ; and we need not say that the Hall was crowded .
No. 419, Aprii, 3,1858-3 The Leader, 321
No . 419 , Aprii , 3 , 1858-3 THE LEADER , 321
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- Leader Office, Saturday, April 3rd. Am...
- Leader Office , Saturday , April 3 rd . AMERICA . The news by the Kangaroo , which arrived yesterday morning , is of average importance . The Kansas bill was still being delayed in the Senate . The bill providing for an increase in the army had been passed by the House of Representatives ; it provides for the organization of regiments of mounted men for the defence of the frontier of Texas , and authorizes the President to employ four regiments of volunteers to quell the disturbances in Utah , to protect emigrant trains , and to keep the Indians of the north-west in order . " The House Committee on Foreign Affairs , " says the New York Herald , " now considering the propriety © f abrogating the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty . It is highly probable they may report in favour of its immediate abrogation . " The ship Adriatic , which escaped from tho French authorities at Marseilles , had arrived out at Savannah . The New York State Senate has adopted a resolution condemning the Kansas policy of Mr . Buchanan ' s administration . The Collins * steamers woro to be sold at auction , in New York , on the 1 st of April . A light has Occurred in the New York House of Assembly betweon two members , and one of them ( Mr . Chatfield ) was taken into custody by the serjeant-at-arms .
The New India Bm, And Lord Palmerston's ...
The New India Bm , and Lord Palmerston's Friends . —It is understood that a general meeting of the supporters of Lord Palmeraton ' s polioy will bo held at Cambridge-house , noxt Wednesday , for the purpose » f taking into consideration the course they should adopt On the second reading of the India Bill , introduced by the Government , and which is fixed for Monday , the , 19 th instant . —Morning Star . Thk Continent . —Lord Cowley will give a banquet and festival in honour of the Due do Malakhoff , the new Ambassador to England , on the 8 th inat . —The Russian —plahiatrRubinsteinrls now In-Parisrcreating > 4 , bo-groatcst . nthuaiaam in the musical world . The critics aro unanimous in tlicir opinion of his powers , and describe his talent in glowing terms . Anotiikr Suspuothd Case of Poisoning xn Sus-Bbx . —Much excitement prevail *) in the village of Alclston in consequence of the death of nn inhabitant under circumstances which have led to the suspicion that ho has been poisoned . Tho deceased was * a labouror , named Stephen Boys , who only-survived hia wifo a fow
days . The inquest ia adjourned , that Professor Taylor may make a post mortem examination . Mutiny ahd Murder at Ska . —Considerable excitement has been caused at Sydney , Australia , by the arrival , on the 1 lth of January , of the American whale ship , Junior , of new Bedford , in charge of her first officer , who reportedUhat a mutiny had broken ont on board the vessel on Cbris . tmas-day , lwhich had resulted in the murder of the captain and the third mate , and the desertion of the shin bv the mutineers .
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IK THIS DIPAETMKNT , AS AI . X . OPINIONS , HOWKVKH 1 XIBIKI , ABB ALLOWED AN EXPBBSSION , THE EDITOR NECESSARILY HOLDS HIMSELF BESPONSIBLB FOB NONE . ]
There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There is no learned man but will confess ne hath much profited by reading controversies , bis senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least . be tolerable for Msadveraary to write?—Milton
The New India Bill. (To The Editor Of Th...
THE NEW INDIA BILL . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ') Sir , —Of all the marvellous contrivances that Statecraft ever imagined , assuredly Mr . Disraeli's Bill for the construction of a Government for India is the most marvellous . It is difficult to read the details and to believe the proposal a serious one . The scheme might form some portion of an imaginary conversation upon ideal schemes of Government , in a chapter of a political novel ; but it is simply laughable to find it gravely put forth as the proposal of an actually existing Government . There is to be a Council of eighteen , nine of the members of which are to be appointed by the Crown , under the following restrictions ingeniously contrived to provide beforehand an excuse , should the choice chance to fall upon men the least fitted for the office : — One of the nine , must have served 10 years in the Upper Provinces of India . One — _ io years in Lower Bengal . One — — 10 years in Madras . One — — 10 years in Bombay . One — must have represented the Company 5 years at some Native Court , and must have served the Company for 5 years besides in some other capacity . One — must be an officer in the Queen's army , who shall have served 5 years in India . One — must have served 10 years in the Bengal army . One — — 10 years in the Madras army . One — — 10 years in the Bombay army . So far in the number of Councillors the complication seems sufficient . We have civilians aud military men , diplomatists and warriors ; the one omission is that of the Navy : no naval officer , either of the Company or the Queen , may be named amongst the Nine . But look at the list which we have set down , for ease of reference , in tabular form . Could a more inept or clumsy system of qualification have been hit upon hap-hazard ? It must be the veriest chance whether the men of the most real Indian experience may have served out in each special province their several terms of ten years . A vaned service must go for nothing . Be there ever so critical a juncture , the fittest man for the occasion must never be removed from Bengal to Madras , or Madras , to Bombay ; it would be fatal to his future chances of appointment amongst the Government Nine upon the Council . There would , however , be always at hand , as an excuse for having set aside the man of most large-minded knowledge of India in favour of some one in more close alliance with the Government of the day , that the service of the right man was by a few months or days incomplete . But assuredly a certain number of years' residence in the country , whether in the civil , military , or diplomatic service , is no proper teat of capacity for its government . There are men of tho Warren Hastings , the Clive , Wellington , Lawrence , Napier , or Havelock stamp , who gather more knowledge aud more power to use it well In five yeara than other men in flveand-twenty . But this time test is to stand instead of the direct responsibility of tho advisers of the Crown to Parliament . They are to be spared the responsibility « f selecting tho most advanced and ableat _ men , jnM _ are _ fco ^^^ the very constitution of the council the answer'for every failure , however grievous or disgraceful , that the time-bound circle of selection left them no better choice . So much for tho Crown members of this marvellous mosaic of an Indian Council . Then there aro the Elective members again . We present them in . tabular form : — Four are to be chosen by « so-called Indian constituency , that ia , by
Proprietors of India Stock , Shareholders in Indian Railways , Residents in India for ten years . They may elect any one who has Served in India ten years ; ot , Lived as a planter in India for fifteen years . How numerous and how variable this strangely mixed constituency would be it is impossible to guess . Possibly , Indian Railway stock might rise in the market under influence of the hope of its share of the patronage . What a stir there must be in the luxurious precincts of the Oriental Club amongst those whose ten years * service or fifteen years ' plantership place them in the category of candidates , entitled not only to enter upon the costly and laborious task—protracted often through years of canvassing—as of old the proprietors of India stock , but with the addition of hunting up in all corners of the country the shareholders , great and small , men
and women , in Indian railroads , and all who one time or other had been dwellers in India for ; ten years . The very idea of the thing is utterly childish and ludicrous . In what respect is this newconstituency to surpass , in fitness to select the ablest men as rulers of India , the constituency of Indian proprietors as it is ? Is there to be found such marvellous wisdom amongst the proprietors of Indian Railway Stock and the ten years' retired residents that this extension of the franchise has become essential to the right choice of men for this Indian Council ? "Why not apply the newly invented principle to our own Parliament , and give votes and proportion of members to every holder of stock in all our multitude of railways ? If good for Indian , surely it must be good for English government . But this is not the end of the devices forgathering into the model Council the choicest examples of national wisdom . Five other members are to be
elected : One by London . „ Manchester . „ Liverpool . „ Glasgow . „ Belfast . These are to be chosen by the Parliamentary constituencies of the five favoured towns , as they are , or as they may be amended . And , again , the choice is not to be a free choice . The candidates must either have been employed in commerce with India five years or have lived there ten years . Those
under the first head must be pretty numerous in every one of the electing towns . There could hardly be a cotton spinner , or cotton broker , or silk manufacturer , or wine merchant , or Bitter Beer , or Porter brewer not duly qualified to become a candidate for a seat at the Indian Council and 1000 / . a year . Parliamentary elections are admittedly bad enough , but in all matters of bribery , coercion , fraud , and corruption , they would be thrown into the veriest shade by these elections for the Indian Board . Howmuch it would pay to spend upon votes for the chance of the 1000 / . a year could be easily calculated ; and for " the rest , for the better class of voters , the patronage would be Bribery in perpetuity .
Let any one who has ever witnessed the disgraceful scenes of a hotly-contested election at Liverpool testify how far the election of Indian councilmen to receive a thousand a year and bestow appointments in India would tend to mend the morals of the town . Party spirit would be more violently brought into action than ever ; the votes of the old freemen , having- in the Indian case a determinate value , would rise in price—the old floodgates of treating nnd bribing would be once more thrown open—the Indian adviser of the Crown , the eighteenth-part governor of 150 , 000 , 000 people , would be floated into the Council upon a sea of Beer , by a majority of purchased votes , and would take his scat as an independent member , half ruined by thp cost of the contest and weighed down with the load of promised
appointments . But the truth is , this Bill was never meant to pass—it was never brought forward with the intention of its becoming law . It has no other aim than that of a Dissolution . The idea , doubtless , waa that this elective council would be popular , that at least the five townsv would stand by it . Unhappily for tho author of the device , tho people of England look upon the governing of India as a stern reality , just now very momentous . They consider , too , that India is , at the present moment , not at all in a condition for raw experiments in governing . They know the world is looking seriously on , nnd that
nations of every tongue , and people of every land , are asking one of the other , How will England act thia Indian matter right ?•—how place this distant limb of her empire in a condition of amendment- nnd-of-progress ?—JVu « unedljUU $ 4 > yjtlu £ dejvico of a Council . Either India must bo governed , as tho rest of our dominiona , by the Executive unrmatakably responsible to Parliament , or it must be left to govern itaelf . No Metropolitan Board of Works , constitution , with a Thwaitos of its own ani endleaa talk , can ever rule that mighty Empire . I am , Sir , yours faithfully , SIMPI 4 OKTA 8 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1858, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03041858/page/9/
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