LORD CAMPBELLpresented a petition of the Armenian inhabitants of the Bengal Presidency, praying that in the event of the renewal of the Act for the Government of the Indian territories, provision may be made to secure to the petitioners the full benefit of the contract with the East India Company by which they were induced to settle in the Company's territories. His Lordship said, their Lordships were, no doubt, aware of the ancient history of the Armenians. For centuries they had ceased to be a nation, but still they had spread over a considerable portion of the globe; they had retained very great respectability of character, and were steady adherents of the Christian faith. They were settled in India before the English approached it. They greatly facilitated the first settlement of the English in India, and it was at that time or soon afterwards that a treaty was agreed to between the Armenians and the East India Company. In 1688 a distinguished chief of the Armenians entered into a deed with the Company, by which that people were promised very considerable advantages, and under which they were to render certain services to the Company. It was not, in law, a formal deed, but for more than a century it was considered a good contract on both sides, and was virtually performed on both sides. He would mention some of the stipulations in the deed. It provided that the Armenians should have an equal share and advantage in all the rights and indulgences which were granted by the Company to English adventurers—that they should have the same right to live in any of the Company's towns, and to buy and sell land, as if they were English 519 subjects, and that they should also be free and undisturbed in the exercise of their religion. Upon that understanding, large numbers of the Armenians gathered together and settled in India; and for nearly a century they had no cause to complain, because during that time the power of the East India Company was chiefly confined to the cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, within the precincts of which the English law prevailed, and the Armenians were admitted to all the privileges of Englishmen. But when the territories of the East India Company were extended, a very different state of things arose. The Armenian population, taking advantage of their treaty with the East India Company, settled in districts of India known by the term of Mofussil, where they accumulated great wealth. In Mofussil districts, however, the English law did not prevail; there no lex loci existed, and the people were governed each sect and each class of religionists by their own laws. The Hindoos were governed by their own aws, and the Mahommedans by theirs; and if any other race arose, they were also governed by the peculiar laws which belonged to them; but it so happened that the Armenians were without any law. By the Justinian code the Armenian law was abolished, and the Armenians were called upon to obey the Roman law; but even to that, it was contended, they had no right. What, then, became of them? They had no code to which they could refer—no Pandects from which they could lay down the law. They had suits pending of very great importance; but they went before the different courts in entire ignorance of the way in which they would be settled. In criminal matters they were subject to the Mahommedan laws, which they detested, and in civil matters they had no law whatever. Things went on in that state until the renewal of the East India Company's Charter in the year 1833, when the Armenians hoped they would receive some redress. By the 53rd section of the Act of the 3rd and 4th of William IV., it was enacted that the Governor General of India should issue a commission, not exceeding five in number, to be styled "the Indian Law Commissioners," to inquire into the jurisdiction, powers, and rules of the existing courts of justice and police establishments in the said territories, and all existing forms of judicial procedure, and into the nature and operation of all laws, whether civil or criminal, 520 written or customary, prevailing and in force in any part of the said territories, and whereto any inhabitants of the said territories, whether Europeans or others, were subject;" and the Commissioners were to make reports and set forth the result of their inquiries. Accordingly, Commissioners were appointed, and proceeded to India, and they very soon completed a criminal code, which, if it had been carried into effect as contemplated, the Armenians would have had no cause to complain. Two or three years after, the code was drafted into a law, but it had remained a dead letter ever since. He (Lord Campbell) considered that this state of things ought not to continue. The noble and learned Lord read several extracts from the report of the Commissioners presented to Parliament in 1840, with a view to show that some stringent measure ought to be enacted by Parliament to meet the complaints of the petitioners. Allusion had been made to what he (Lord Campbell) had said on former occasions upon this subject; but he confessed, on consideration, that he retracted nothing he had ever said against the vicious system of the administration of the law in India. With regard to the codification of the law of India, he deemed it to be absolutely necessary. In England it had been said that the codification of the law might be dispensed with, because there existed a general knowledge of the law among the people; but that could not be said of a country where nobody really knew what the law was.
§ The EARL of ELLENBOROUGHsaid, it was quite true that the case of the petitioners was one of very great hardship; and it was also that of a number of East Indians, resident in the Mofussil districts, who were subjected to the Mahometan law, modified to a certain degree by the regulations of the Indian Government. But if the law of England were introduced into the Mofussil districts, there would be no person who could execute it, so that in fact they would find themselves just where they were. The real difficulty was, that there were no persons capable of exercising the judicial functions in such a manner as would alone meet the views of the noble and learned Lord. The subject was undoubtedly under the consideration of the Committee; but the difficulties surrounding it, arising not merely from the present system of administering patronage, but inherent in the nature of things, were such that he feared it would be impracti- 521 cable to adopt any plan that would be entirely satisfactory.
§ The EARL of ABERDEENsaid, unquestionably the views of the petitioners were entitled to every consideration, both from their Lordships generally and the Committee of Inquiry on Indian Affairs now sitting. By that inquiry, no doubt, much light would be thrown on the working of the judicial system in India, and progress would be made towards the solution of the problem. So far as materials had been furnished by the Commissioners appointed nearly twenty years back, effect would be given to them; and he trusted that on this subject they would be favoured with the assistance of the noble and learned Lord (Lord Campbell).
§ The EARL of ELLENBOROUGHsaid, in reference to legislating upon the subject of the government of India, he thought it could be better legislated upon here than in that country.
§ Petition referred to the Select Committee on the Government of Indian Territories.
§ House adjourned till To-morrow.