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132 THE LEA DEB, [No. 359, S^tttrda y
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A VOICE FROM BENGAL. The proposed amalga...
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WHERE SHALL WE GET OUR COTTON? "What hav...
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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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The Ghost Of Alice Leeot. "When The Case...
bison carried them . " "When he gave the 51 . it was because Habbison produced two or three letters which Lord Bath had written to Madame Denis . "I never , " said the Marquis , " drank much wine at Denbigh-terrace : there may have been three bottles placed on the table- —one of port , one of sherry , and one of champagne ; and I paid for all . There were no supper parties . I merely ordered some wine , some little supper , and maybe , two or three -women at the utmost have partaken , of it . I should think Madame Dewis
took some of it . " IJord Bath did not meet noblemen and gentlemen of rank and position at the house . " I may have accidentally met as much as one ; I met him oil the stairs aa I entered . And on another occasion I took a friend with me in the afternoon to show him the house . " That is tie second
story . we entirely abstain from comment on the case . We have limited ourselves to repeating just what was told in the court . Every line above is compilation , nothing more . Par be it from us to condemn the Marquis of Bath . We say that the peculiarity in his case is , not that he should visit a Madame Denis , but that he should be found out . If he is to
be condemned , it is for falling m with the manners and customs of the country—of the class to which he belongs . The peculiarity in this case is , that such occurrences should be found out contemporaneously . They are seldom completely related until many years after the ^ occurrence . There has been lately a severe raid by the police upon houses not unlike that of Madame Denis . We will observe , however , that Madame Djdnis would never have come to England , and would not have found the means of stopping here for a single
week , if she had mot been visited by Marquises , old and young , and if there had not been at least the chance of an encounter once or twice upon the stairs . The case is only one of a hundred such , which establish our position , that , underneath the surface , the manners and customs of the English people are different from the manners and customs which they profess , and which , when they discuss subjects of morals , they ingenuously pretend not to know . The result of the case of Harbison versits
the Marquis of Bath , at all events establishes one important principle—that men like Hae-BISON" will find great difficulty in recovering any claim at law . Such claims , therefore , must remain what are called debts of honour — -just the class which the -Bankruptcy Court considers to be most certain of recovery .
132 The Lea Deb, [No. 359, S^Tttrda Y
132 THE LEA DEB , [ No . 359 , S ^ tttrda y
A Voice From Bengal. The Proposed Amalga...
A VOICE FROM BENGAL . The proposed amalgamation of the Supreme and Suddur Courts of Calcutta , to which we had occasion to allude in the Leader some months ago , appears to bo regarded with considerable dissatisfaction and distrust by the European residents in the lower provinces ol Bengal , So deeply rooted , indeed , are their objections to the contemplated innovation
that Mr . W . Theobald , a distinguished member of the Calcutta Bar , has been deputed to this country , charged with a petition to the Commons of Great Britain aud Irelaud in Parliament assembled . The petitioners complain that in the Company ' s service neither magistrates nor judges are alinod for the
qu judicial office , either by a professional education , or by practice at the Bar . The civil administration of Bengal is confided to two classes of public servants thp Covenanted and the Uncovenanted The former , within a ? e \ v months after their arrival m the country , are entrusted with duties of great significance , and within a very few yeaxa are often called upon to
administer justice m districts comprising from six to eight thousand square miles , and containing a litigious population of , perhaps , a million of inhabitants . The functions of the Covenanted servants are twofold , judicial and fiscal , and the same officer may be employed in both departments at the same time . At a first glance it may seem to English eyes a strange confusion of
ideas to select a magistrate from the Custoins and Excise , or to choose a collector from the bench of magistrates . But in India there is one great advantage to be derived from such a practice . It is in the revenue department that the most familiar knowledge is acquired of the manners , customs , social institutions , and prejudices of the natives . At the same time , it must be admitted that serious inconvenience often arises from the
promotion of a zealous revenue officer to some high post in the judicial department , or of an able magistrate to some responsible charge in the receipt of custom . Nevertheless , the system lias been found , practically , to answer exceedingly well , so far as the natives are concerned . But the question now arises as to its applicability to the European community . The petitioners insist that they can have no confidence in the decision of
magistrates and judges imperfectly acquainted with law and devoid of legal experience . And they object in still stronger terms to being placed at ; the mercy of the Uncovenanted servants of the East India Company , who are , for the most part , Natives , or Eurasians , or Europeans of an inferior grade , intellectually and socially . But even if the local and lower courts should be reorganized and improved , they maintain that the existence of the Supreme Court , as at present constituted , would be indispensable tor the security of their lives and property ; nor , indeed , does it appear that its preservation is at all incompatible with the reform of the Company ' s courts .
" The abolition of the Supreme Court , " says the Secretary to the Indigo Planters' Association , " is proposed under the name of an Amalgamation , and the benefit to be gained is the introduction of the three Supreme Court Judges to the Suddur Court , and their incorporation with tlie East India Company ' s Judges in that Chief Court of Appeal . It is obvious that these three professional judges are wanted for their forensic training and
knowledge of English law and general knowledge of practical jurisprudence . But the Supreme Court may be preserved , and the object alluded to obtained , only by doubling -the number of the judges of that court , and establishing a rota among them to sit in the Court of Appeal , or by some other slight modification of this plan . The Supreme Court Bar and different Bars—English , Scotch , and Irish—of the United Kingdom , would be amply sufficient to supply the demand . "
Of tbe amplitude of tlie supply we have no doubt ; it is of greater moment to determine the expediency of maintaining a multiform code and distinct , sometimes antagonistic courts , or having throughout the length and breadth of the land one code and one system of administration . It is , of course , evident that even in an otherwise uniform code there must bo some variety of action allowed in particular cases . JTor instance , a plurality of wives is regarded by Mahommedans as not even an inconvenience , while the less impassioned , or more sarcastic Christian , deems it
a crime to indulge m a second wife until he has disposed of the first . The laws of inheritance , too , vary according to the three pervading forms of religion ; but these are matters of detail and capable of special provision , and by no means sufficient to counterbalance the advantages of simple aud impartial justice . Besides , the improvement of the lower courts will naturally mitigiito the labours of tho High Court of Judicature . In a former article we briolly stated , tho constitution of that court and its mode of operation , ^ aiud have since soon no reason to modify [ the favourable opinion wo then expressed . It
has seemed otherwise , however , to those who are bkely to beonost affected by the projected changes , —the European community of Cart cutta and the adjacent districts being de scribed as greatly agitated and excited at the prospect of being subjected to the new code administered by the Company ' s servants ' Under the influence of this excitement thev have engaged the eminent professional know ledge and ability of one of the foremost members of _ the Calcutta Bar , and have entrusted to him the following mission : " To secure a parliamentary opposition to the amal gatnation of the Supreme and Suddur Courts in tho manner proposed by the Law Commissioners in En ? land : ' ' ° ~
"To preserve with an unimpaired jurisdiction the Supreme Court as a Court of English Law , and with a distinct and separate existence , as It has been for the last eighty years and upwards , which is necessary for the security of British and Christian inhabi tants and the commerce and various enterprises in which they are concerned ; "To preserve trial by jury of Christian inhabitants for the British and Christian inhabitants , and to preserve their exemption from the criminal jurisdiction of the llofussil courts , as at present , in cases involTing the graver punishments , until those courts have qualified judges :
" Without prejudice , however , to any plans of reform for bringing the criminal jurisdiction of the Supreme Court nearer the homes of the Mofussil people ; u To promote the establishment of English Uvw as administered hi the Supreme Court as the lex loci of India , for all classes of persons and all kinds of interests not governed by a special law , like the Hindu and Mahomedan law ; and ¦ " To promote the prayers and declared principles of the Petitions recently sent home from the Indigo Planters' Association and European community generally . "
It is certain that they could not have selected a more zealous cham pion of their supposed , interests , but it is not at all equal ^ certain that there are any just grouads for their anxiety and horror .
Where Shall We Get Our Cotton? "What Hav...
WHERE SHALL WE GET OUR COTTON ? " What have our manufacturers been thinking of since it was announced to ffie Jfanchester Chamber of Commerce that the supply of cotton in the warehouses of the kingdom is rapidly failing ? The question comes with great force from the Midland counties . But are any practical steps being taken to cultivate the cotton of India ? Is Indian
cotton used largely in Manchester fabrics ? If not , why ? The calculation has been made , and not been disputed , that India could supply cotton equal in staple to that of America , aud twenty-live per cent , cheaper . Yet our Indian staple remains inferior , our cotton exports from the Easb cannot compete in the European mai'keta with those of America ; roads are few , taxes high ; machinery ia scarce , agr iculture unprogressive . We must not be understood , of course , to imply that tho cotton-growing capabilities of our Oriental possessions have been altogether neglected . A regular trade in that
product , the raw material of our most important branch of industry , has been established between the districts of Broach and Surafc and England . These territories lie along the sea-coast , tho cotton lands being in no case more than twenty miles from water-carriage to Bombay , where tho shipments are made ; but the produce ia not of a high quality owing to tho small demand , and the consequent limitation of price . A larger demand and higher prices would act naturally as encouragements to native agriculture .
The lowest average price of American cotton is threepence-halfpenny per pound , ; - — sufficient to act aa a powerful stimulus to its cultivation in India . 1 ' uturo scales of prices would , of course , depend on tho assessments , tho means of carriage , tho introduction ot machinery , the education of tho husbandmen ; but there can bo little doubt that the
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1857, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07021857/page/12/
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