THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S PETITION. (Hansard, 9 February 1858)

MR. T. BARING

presented a Petition of the East India Company, praying the House not to give their sanction to any change in the constitution of the Indian Government during the continuance of the present unhappy disturbances. The hon. Member said, that by the rules of the House he must refrain from making any observations or giving any opinion upon its contents, and be satisfied with stating its contents and prayer. He had hoped, however, that considering its importance, some relaxation of the rules of the House would have been permitted him, so far at least as to permit him to move that it be printed and circulated with the Votes; and in that case it would not have been necessary for him to detain the House by referring to the statements and prayer of the Petition, or by moving that it be read by the clerk at the table. In that hope he had been disappointed, and therefore he should perhaps best consult the time of the House by stating shortly the purport of the petition. This Petition was resolved upon by the Court of Directors in consequence of an official intimation from Her Majesty's Government that they intended to introduce a change in the Government of India, by bringing it under the direct authority of the Crown. The Court of Directors, by a large majority, submitted this Petition to the Court of Proprietors, and after several days' able discussion it was adopted 971 by the Court of Proprietors with very few dissentient voices. It was a very remarkable document, both for the talent which it displayed and for the importance of the subject to which it referred. The Court of Directors had done him the honour to place it in his hands for presentation—not with any idea that his humble position would give weight to the petition, but from the simple fact that he had acted as Chairman of the last Committee of this House which inquired into Indian affairs, and with the wish to prevent any insinuation of the Petitioners being actuated by party motives. The Petitioners commence by reminding the House that they had, at their own expense, and by the agency of their own civil and military servants, originally acquired for this country the magnificent empire in the East; that for the century since elapsed they had governed and maintained our Indian possessions, without the smallest cost to the British Exchequer; that in 1783 Parliament provided that a department of the Imperial Government should have full cognizance of and control over the acts of the Petitioners in the administration of India, since which time the home Government had been conducted by the joint counsels and the joint responsibility of the Petitioners and of a Minister of the Crown; that this arrangement has at various times undergone reconsideration, and careful Parliamentary inquiries made, which on every occasion resulted in a renewed grant to the Petitioners of the powers exercised by them; that the last such occasion was in 1853, when the arrangements which had existed for three-quarters of a century were, with some modifications, re-enacted, and still subsist. That, notwithstanding, the Petitioners have received a notification from Her Majesty's Ministers of their intention to propose to Parliament a Bill for the purpose of placing Her Majesty's East Indian dominions under the direct authority of the Crown—a change necessarily involving the abolition of the East India Company as an instrument of government. That the Petitioners have not been informed of the reasons which have induced Her Majesty's Ministers, without any previous inquiry, to put an end to a system of administration which Parliament, after inquiry, deliberately sanctioned less than five years ago, and which cannot be supposed to have had a sufficient trial: that Her Majesty's Ministers do not impute any failure to these arrangements, or make 972 any charge against the Petitioners; but the time at which the proposition is made compels the Petitioners to regard it as arising from the recent calamitous events in India; that the Petitioners challenge the fullest inquiry into the mutiny of the Bengal army and its causes; they have already instructed the Indian Government to institute such an inquiry, and are anxious that a similar investigation should be instituted in this country, in order that it may be ascertained whether there be anything in the constitution or administration of the home Government which may have had any share in producing the mutiny, or whether it can be imputed to any failure in the existing arrangements; that were it true that these arrangements had failed, such failure is no ground for divesting the Company of its functions and transferring them to Her Majesty's Government, inasmuch as Her Majesty's Government have already a deciding voice, and have frequently exercised the power of requiring the Company to deal with matters, and are therefore fully accountable for what has been done or omitted to be done, and the Petitioners are accountable only for what has been originated or omitted by themselves; that consequently it would be unreasonable to seek a remedy for evils by annihilating the branch of Government which could not be that principally in fault, and transferring it to that which had a decisive share in any errors; that the Petitioners disclaim to vindicate themselves at the expense of any other authority, and claiming full responsibility, they think their responsibility a subject of pride, and are conscious that their advice and initiative have been a great and potent element in the conduct of Indian affairs; and assert that the more searching the inquiry the more patent it will be that their administration has not only been the purest in intention, but most beneficent in act ever known among mankind; that it has been in all departments one of the most rapidly improving Governments in the world, and in particular that at this moment a greater number of important changes are in a state of more rapid progress than at any former period; that such is not likely to be the impression on the public mind by the ejection of the Petitioners at the present moment from their share in the Indian administration; but, on the contrary, that they have so abused their trust as to have provoked a sanguinary insurrection, and nearly lost India to the British empire 973 and have, therefore, in deference to public indignation, been deservedly cashiered for their misconduct; that the Company confidently appeal to the verdict of history; but they cannot look without the deepest uneasiness at the effect likely to be produced on the minds of the people of India, who will believe that the abolition of the Company's Government means the abolition of the whole system of administration with which the Company is identified, and, concurring with the introduction of a vast military force, that an entire reversal is intended of that regard for the religious prejudices and customs of the Natives by which the government of the Company has been distinguished—a policy which has been so successful that the heads of the Native states and the general population have remained faithful to the British Government; and it is the conviction of the petitioners that a serious apprehension of a change in policy in this respect would be followed at no distant date by a general rising throughout India. The petitioners then refer to the indiscriminate animosity towards the Natives of India, on the part of our countrymen in India and at home, which has grown up since the recent events, and to the doctrine that India is to be administered for the benefit of the English residents there—whereas it has been the honourable characteristic of the government of the Company that it has acknowledged no such distinction as a dominant and subject race, but has held that its first duty was to the people of India; and that a change in the Government at this time is likely to be regarded in India as a first successful attack on that principle; the Petitioners therefore urge, that even if the contemplated change could be proved to be in itself desirable, the present is a most unsuitable time, and urge such a postponement until a more mature consideration has been given or can be given in the present excited state of the public mind. The Petitioners then refer to the various changes, made after mature deliberation in Parliament, in which the Company have always willingly acquiesced, to the partial relinquishment of trade in 1813, and total abandonment in 1833; to the transfer of commercial assets to the value of upwards of £15,000,000, a sum greatly exceeding the sum repayable in respect of their capital, irrespective of their territorial rights and claims; and to their concurrence in 1853 to the reconstruction of the home Government; and 974 the Petitioners conceive that these several steps were accompanied by conditions which cannot be safely departed from, and pray that legislative sanction may be withheld from any arrangements which do not fulfil these conditions in at least an equal degree. The Petitioners then represent, that the home government of India cannot be confided to a Minister without a Council of statesmen experienced in Indian affairs—a knowledge which requires special study and great practical experience; they conceive that such a Council should be not only qualified to advise the Minister, but to exercise, in a certain degree, a moral check, and should have sufficient weight from its constitution, and from its, relation to the Minister, to be a substantial barrier against those inroads of self-interest and ignorance from which the Government of India has hitherto been free. The Petitioners cannot conceive a worse form of government than a Minister with a Council which he is not bound to consult; that such a Council would be only a screen, weakening his responsibility, and giving a colourable sanction of prudence and experience to measures in the framing of which those qualities have had no share; that a new Council could not possess the moral influence nor the independence in judgment and act now possessed by the Court of Directors; nor, if nominated by the Minister, that independence of Parliamentary and party influence which has hitherto distinguished the administration of India and the appointment to situations of trust; and therefore the majority of the council should hold their seats independent of the appointment of the Minister. The Petitioners are of opinion that the participation of the council in the administration of India should be a substantial one; that it is indispensable that the despatches to India should not be prepared by the Minister and laid before the Council, but prepared by the Council and submitted to the Minister. They consider the nomination and control of the home establishments essential to the utility of the Council; that the number of the Council should not be too restricted, nor less than the number of the Board of Directors. The Petitioners then express the hope that if a body can be constituted which shall possess these requisites in a greater degree than the Court of Directors, Her Majesty's Ministers may be successful in framing one; but if they shall succeed in showing that the present system unites all these qualities, the Peti- 975 tioners pray the House to continue the existing powers of the Court. The Petitioners deny the alleged evils of the so-called "double government," and assert its efficiency, and its responsibility to Parliament and public opinion. They point out the admirable qualities of the Indian army, and deprecate any change in its position; and conclude with the following prayer:— That your Petitioners, having regard to all these considerations, humbly pray your Honourable House, that you will not give your sanction to any change in the constitution of the Indian Government during the continuance of the present unhappy disturbances, nor without a full previous inquiry into the operations of the present system. And your Petitioners further pray that this inquiry may extend to every department of Indian administration. Such an inquiry your Petitioners respectfully claim, not only as a matter of justice to themselves, but because, when, for the first time in this century, the thoughts of every public man in the country are fixed on India, an inquiry would be more thorough, and its results would carry much more instruction to the mind of Parliament and of the country, than at any preceding period. The Petition having been read, and ordered to he on the table,