In the course of the session there were several acts passed of great utility without any prominent discussion. One of the most important of these was an act for the regulation of railways, which was brought in by Mr. Gladstone, and which embodied a variety of enactments designed to protect the public against the injurious effects of monopoly and combination, by vesting in the government a controlling power over such companies as should thereafter come to solicit powers from parliament, and a right of intervention for the reduction of charges and tolls whenever the profits of a railway should exceed the maximum of ten per cent, on its capital. The act also contained salutary regulations for securing economy and comfort in travelling to the poorer classes. Another act passed contained provisions of practical importance for the regulation of joint-stock companies. The main object of this measure was to protect the public against fictitious and delusive schemes, by requiring from all joint-stock companies the observance of certain conditions for the purpose of ascertaining their real character, and subjecting them to an efficient responsibility. There was to be a system of registration under a proper superintendence, whereby the names and descriptions of the projectors, and the particular nature and objects of the undertaking were required to be enrolled at an office established for that purpose. Upon compliance with these regulations, certain privileges were to be accorded to the company, and some anomalies and inconveniences heretofore existing removed. Reports were also to be made annually to parliament by an officer to be appointed under the act, relating to such companies as should have come within its provisions during the year. A third Act remodelled the entire system of turnpike-road management in South Wales, the abuses of which had given rise to the Rebecca riots. The leading principle of this measure was the consolidation of trusts, the debts of those existing being paid off by a system of arbitration, to be conducted by three commissioners appointed by government; the money required for this purpose being lent by the treasury, and secured on the rates of the several counties. The consolidation having been effected, all the roads in each county were to be administered by a now executive body, consisting partly of ex-officio members, partly of magistrates, and partly of ratepayers. A further alteration was made this session in the original poor-law amendment act, the principal feature of which was an alteration in the enactments of the statute of 1835, relating to the maintenance of illegitimate children. By this alteration, a more efficient mode of obtaining from the father a provision for his child’s maintenance was placed in the power of the mother, by means of a proceeding in which she herself was entitled to make the application, and not, as under the original law, the officers of the parish: more stringent remedies were also substituted for enforcing the remedy against the putative father than had before existed. Towards the close of the session, repeated discussions of an animated nature took place in both houses of parliament, on the subject of a petition which was presented by Mr. Thomas Duncombe, from Serafino Calderara, Joseph Mazzini, W. J. Linton, and William Lovett, complaining that their letters had been opened at the post-office. Mr. Duncombe, in the commons, and the Earl of Radnor in the lords, moved for committees of inquiry, which were ultimately appointed; and these committees made their reports during the session; from which reports it appeared that the warrants of the secretary of state had only been issued in peculiar emergencies; and that the cases in which his power had been exercised formed a small annual average, and did not amount to an invasion of private correspondence, which the assailants of government had represented. No other result arose out of the conflicts upon this subject than a bill introduced by Lord Radnor, in the house of lords, for the abolition of the power complained of; but this bill did not proceed beyond the first reading.
PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.
Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 5th of September. The speech announced that her majesty had given her cordial assent to the bill for regulating the issue of bank-notes; adverted to some discussions which had taken place with the government of the king of the French on events calculated to interrupt the friendly relations of the two countries, but which danger had been averted; congratulated the houses on the improvement which had taken place in the condition of manufactures and commerce; and expressed high satisfaction at the spirit of loyalty and cheerful obedience to the law manifested in all parts of her majesty’s kingdom. The commissioners concluded:—“We are commanded by her majesty to assure you that when you shall be called upon to resume the discharge of your parliamentary functions, you may place entire reliance on the cordial co-operation of her majesty in your endeavours to improve the social condition and to promote the happiness and contentment of her people.” Thus ended this important session—a session signalized in the addition to the statute-book of severed important measures, conceived in a safe and judicious spirit of reform, well suited to the circumstances of the country and to the temper of the age.
THE STATE OF INDIA.
The event of chief interest connected with the present year was the recall of Lord Ellenborough, the governor-general, by the unanimous vote of the court of directors. This subject, as noticed in a previous page, gave rise to discussion in both houses of parliament. What were the real motives of the directors of the East India Company in exercising their right of recalling a governor-general, which from non-use had almost become obsolete, and in thus acting in direct opposition to the views and wishes of her majesty’s government have never been fully developed; and the public have therefore been driven to conjecture on the subject. The most probable opinion, perhaps, may be, that the directors were offended at his evident mania for military achievements. Throughout the whole of his administration he showed his desire of conquest; and even when he left India he did not scruple to say, at a farewell entertainment given him by the military society of Calcutta, that the only regret he felt in leaving India was that of being separated from the army; and that the most interesting period of his life was that which he had passed in cantonments and camps. Another cause of offence may have been derived from his proclamations, which were offensive to good taste, and which justly exposed him to ridicule. His behaviour towards the directors also was by no means judicious; for, although he had bound himself to attend exclusively to their orders, he was by no means an obedient servant. But whatever may have been the directors’ motives, Lord Ellenborough was recalled from his government, and Sir Henry Hardinge was, at the suggestion of Sir Robert Peel, appointed his successor; and he arrived in India in the month of July.
In Scinde nothing of importance occurred this year. The worst foe which the British had to encounter there was the climate, owing to which a distressing sickness prevailed among the troops. In consequence of this several Bengal native regiments were ordered to march on Scinde; and, although they at first refused to march, from an impression that they were destined for foreign service, they finally marched thither, with the exception of the thirty-fourth native infantry; and that regiment was ignominiously broken at Meerut, in presence of all the troops at the station.
During this year a governor-general was appointed over our recent acquisitions in China, in the person of Mr. Davies, well-known for his admirable work on China, and who had resided many years at Macao, as chief superintendent under the East India Company. Mr. Davies arrived on the 7th of May at Hong Kong, the seat of the new government; and, at the end of July, Sir Henry Pottinger, whose mission to that empire had been attended with such complete success, sailed for England.