§ LORD OVERSTONEpresented a Petition from Merchants and other Inhabitants of Bombay, unconnected with the Government service, against the proposed Measure of Taxation. The petition had been adopted at a public meeting convened by the sheriff, and attended by almost all the influential inhabitants, merchants, lawyers, and commercial men of Bombay. The petitioners, after a full discussion, 1585 condemned the proposed Government measure as unjust and unequal, and prayed that the House of Lords would prevent its becoming law. He could not pretend to be possessed of so much local information or to have studied the question so deeply as to be able to give any opinion of his own on the subject; but he had no hesitation in calling their Lordships' attention to the matter, both on account of the importance of the subject and on account of the large number of influential signatures appended to it. On these grounds he was Confident the petition would receive from their Lordships that respectful consideration to which it was so justly entitled. He thought it right to call to their Lordships' notice that in the course of the discussion which took place at the meeting, it was stated that a former petition which had been sent from Bombay had, on its presentation in this country, been received with silent contempt. Now, he felt certain that nothing of the kind could have occurred in their Lordships' House, and that this feeling must have arisen from some misapprehension but he alluded to this matter now because he felt certain that this petition would receive from their Lordships' hands all attention, and that their Lordships would not proceed to discuss the question without giving to the statements contained in this petition all the consideration which they so well deserved.
THE DUKE OF ARGYLLsaid, he could not recollect that any petition representing the opinions of any portion of the inhabitants of India had been received either by the Government or by their Lordships with silent contempt. He recollected that in the course of last Session and during the former Administration of Lord Palmerston, several petitions were presented from various parts of India by noble Friends near him; but they were uniformly introduced by the noble Lords who presented them with observations stating the purport of the petitions, and calling the attention of the House to the importance of their representations; and these remarks had always been met by such respectful observations from the Government or other noble Lords as the subject required. As regarded the petition which his noble Friend presented, it was too late, in the best sense of the word; for it referred to the licensing system, which Mr. Wilson distinctly stated in his address had been abandoned by the Government because it was based on unequal and unsound principles.
THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDEstated, that a petition which had been sent to him from India for presentation had remained in his hands, because, with the changes impending, he really did not know how it applied to the existing state of things in India.
§ Petition to lie on the table.