EVANS, the wife of George, at Bombay, aged 26, April 20. PROCTOR, Emily Louisa A. d. of S. at Bombay, aged 12, April 14. WILLIAMS, Midshipman E. H., I.N. at Bombay, April 15. SHIPPING. ARRIVALS. APRIL 15. Guardian, Vickerman, Liverpool.-17. Cadree, Mansfield, Calcutta. 18. Steamer Medusa, Kingcombe, Vingorla; steamer Carnatic, Beyts, Surat. -20. Andromache, Passmore, London and Cape of Good Hope; Balfour, Overend, Liverpool.21. Nereides, Hoodless, Liverpool; Lady Kennaway, Avery, Colombo.-22. Swithamby, Jennings, Liverpool; Lady Bruce, Liddell, Colombo; Actress, Conry, Mauritius; Templar, Brown, Liverpool; Neptune, Henderson, London; Delhi, Berry, Boston; Grab, Harsinger, Penang.-21. Steamer Auckland, Hamilton, Aden.-29. Steamer Indus, Galbraith, Kurrachee.-30. Earl of Durham, Clarkson, Aden; Steamer Carnac, Beyts, Tankaria. PASSENGERS ARRIVED. Per Cadree.-Mrs. Mansfield and child. Per Medusa.-Lieut. Worgan, Bo. Art. Per Andromache.-Capt. Evans, H.M.'s 78th Highlanders, lady and child; Lieut. Remington, 5th Mad. Cav. and lady. Per Swithamby.-J. S. Fox, Esq. Per Neptune.-Mrs. J. Henderson. Per steamer Auckland.-Mrs. Fenton, Mrs. H. Lumsden, Mr. W. G. Le Geyt, Mr. C. J. Le Geyt, and Rev. G. L. Fenton, M.A. Per steamer Indus.-Lieut. E. J. Browne, Lieut. Fellowes, H.M.'s 78th Highlanders; Capt. Minster, 11th N.I.; Asst. surg. Gibbon, Staff; Lieut. Hughes, 2nd Bengal Cavalry; Major Trevelyan, H.M.'s 60th Rifles; Major Gordon. Per Carnac.-Dr. Wicks, lady and child; Rev. Mr. Jervis. DEPARTURES. APRIL 18. Coquette, Prescott, China.-25. Quentin Leitch, Potter, Liverpool; Philip Laing, Shorer, Liverpool.-26. Equestrian, Spence, London; Steamer Berenice, Lauchlan, Kurrachee; Euphrates, Johnstone, Aden.-27. Duncan Ritchie, Lawrence, Liverpool.-28. Lorjee Family, Ayers, China; Faize Allum, Row, China; Eliza, Paterson, China.-29. Adrastus, Ord, Liverpool; Steamer Medusa, Kingcombe, Hurnee.-MAY 1. Steamer Atalanta, Gordon, Suez. PASSENGERS DEPARTED. Per Equestrian.-Mrs. Ward and servant. Per Duncan Ritchie.-Mrs. Thomas Rich and Mr. Chamley. Per steamer Atalanta.-Mrs. J. E. G. Morris and 2 children, with servant, Mrs. Cooper and 2 children, Mrs. Rawlinson and servant, Mrs. G. W. Leech, Mrs. Hughes and 4 children, with 2 servants, Mrs. Elsam and a child, Mrs. Harrison and a child, with 2 servants, Mrs. Wahab and an infant, with servant, Mrs. R. McNeil and 2 servants, Miss Lindsay, Mrs. Ward and three children, Mrs. Hume and three children, Mrs. Kane, Capt. John Cooper, Mr. N. Montefiore, the Rev. J. H. Hughes, W. H. Harrison, Esq. Maj. gen. R. McNeil, Mr. Ward, Maj. Hume, Capt. J. H. Sale, S. D. Murray, Esq. W. H. Gray, Esq. Maj. R. D. White, Lieut. col. W. L. G. Williams, Mr. John Tanner, Capt. H. Creed and 2 servants, E. H. Leight, Esq. William Elsam, Esq. W. R. Mercer, Esq. Q. N. Hawley, Esq.; John M. Plount, Esq.; Capt. E. Dunbar, H.M.'s 22nd regt.; A. Aganoor, Esq.; G. W. Leech, Esq.; Sir R. K. Arbuthnot, Bart.; Capt. Higginbotham, Lieut. Bell, H.M.'s 63rd regt.; T. R. Richmond, Esq.; and Lieut. the Hon. R. Handcock, H.M.'s 24th foot; Mr. and Mrs. J. Marshall and an infant. By the steamer Indus, which arrived yesterday morning, we have received letters and papers from Kurrachee to the 24th, and other parts of Scinde of the most recent dates. There seems to be scarcely anything of note stirring in the country. The rumour that the Governor retires in September has been again current. When Henry the Fourth of France was recommended to punish certain soothsayers who were continually predicting his death, he declined, bidding them go on-if they continued long enough to prophesy his demise they were sure to be right at last. Those who predict Sir Charles Napier's removal are sure in like manner, if they persevere, to be right in the long run-his rule will some time have an end. The effects of the hurricane, which seems to have expended its utmost fury betwixt latitude 10 and 15° N. had extended manifestations of its existence to Kurrachee, where the sea was partially rough and the wind strong on the 22nd. Within the last week a confederation had been discovered of a character somewhat similar to that of the celebrated Bunder Gang of Bombay. The heads of the band were knowing fellows, who managed to get into service at every station in Scinde,- -some as butlers, others mussauls, and the remainder as grooms. From the information their several situations permitted them to acquire, they were enabled to carry on their depredations with a degree of tact that baffled enquiry. After signalising themselves at Sukkur and Hydrabad they came on to Kurrachee, and under cover of the crowded camp bazaar proceeeded to organise a system on a scale calculated for the extended scene of their operations. Their first essays, fortunately for the public were of a limited character. Had they confiued their operations to the camp they might, in all probabilty, have reaped a periodical harvest, and have battened on the residents with impunity, but in an evil hour for themselves they made an attempt on a house in the neighbourhood of the town, which they had the hardihood to repeat. One of them was taken, and on his examination facts were elicited which eventually seem to have led to the arrest of nearly every member of the fraternity. Among those now in confinement are Bombay men, Guzzerattees, Punjaubees, and Beloochees-the latter belonging to the second Beloochee battalion-a large quantity of plunder has been recovered, and the town police is actively employed in ferreting out this nest of miscreants and their abettors-the receivers of the stolen property. It is worthy of remark that the choice spirits of the gang are from Bombay. Here they state they tried to organise themselves, but the Bombay rogues would not hear of it; that celebrated city and its environs being divided, according to their statement, into eight sections, each of which had its allotted number of thieves. The Bombay market being fully occupied, it was suggested that Scinde offered full scope for the exercise of their talents, no purely professional practitioner having exercised his calling in the province, and it was well known that dooly bearers and other bunglers had returned laden with wealth, the spoils of the sojourners of Young Egypt. Much curious, and may be useful, information is expected to be revealed by the exertions of the active lieutenant of police (Lieut. Hodgson), whose zeal and perseverance in the detection and prosecution of these worthies is highly spoken of. The Candaharee force had returned, after having possessed themselves of all the disposable cash of their tributaries of Kujjuck and its neighbourhood (35,000 rupees). A new jail on an extensive scale is in progress of erection at Kurrachee.—Bombay Times, May 1. MALWA. OUR accounts from Malwa state that tranquillity prevails in that quarter, though the proceedings of Doongurjee may awaken the dormant spirits of some old Grassia or Pindaree Chief. There has been some robbery of dawks or attacks on dawk runners near Seeah, on the Agra and Bombay line, which has attracted attention, and we shall be glad to hear the particulars. The resident has returned to Indore, being received on his arrival with every mark of respect. He had been at Boorhanpore and Asseerghur, and through the valley of the Nerbudda, visiting some of the many useful works in course of construction under Capt. Fraser. It was expected that the opium disputes would soon be brought to a conclusion. They have been the occasion of heavy losses to all parties. Major General the Baron Gagern and party had visited the caves at Ajunta, having travelled from Agra by that route to Aurungabad, Poona, and Bombay. We have endeavoured to obtain some particulars of this line of road, which we shall have much pleasure in laying before our readers, for by opening this route the traveller from the N. W. P. may see the caves at Ajunta and Ellora, and reach Bombay by an interesting route, avoiding the annoyances, risks, and privations of the Sindwa route. Major and Mrs. Blair, 10th cavalry, were shortly expected at Mhow.-Delhi Gazette, April 10. We learn by letters from Malwa that grain is selling in that part of India at very high prices, attah being 13 seers, and wheat 16. The poppy has, it appears, not been injured by the frost to the extent it was at first feared would be the case. The weather is represented as fine, and sickness as inconsiderable, except in large towns, where the small-pox is still raging. The introduction of vaccination is a subject deserving the attention of the local civil authorities.-Ibid. April 17. PESHAWUR. We mentioned in our last, that an earthquake had occurred at Lahore. We now learn, that on the same day, a smart shock was felt at Peshawur, with this difference, that there were two at Lahore, the first at half-past ten p.m. of the 30th of March, and the second at half-past one on the morning of the 31st (the time is differently given in another letter), while that at Peshawur occurred at a quarter past one of the same morning, and is described in a letter seen by a friend at Lahore, as being very smart, lasting some seconds, and coming from north to south. Our friend has taken the opportunity of giving us one or two items from the same quarter, from which we gather that Major George Lawrence, with his assistant Lieut. Lumsden, occupy the old Barra Durree of Alee Murdan Khan (of which the curious may find an account in Elphinstone); it is mentioned as an excellent dwelling house, two stories high, with a sleeping apartment at the top. It is situated on the left of the Sikh cantonments, in a fine open space. The force at Peshawur consists of four troops of Horse Artillery with thirty guns, about 1,500 Regular Cavalry, and eight regiments of Regular Infantry, with from 4 to 5,000 Irre gulars to take the duties of the city, and the forts in the district. Sirdar Sultan Mahomed Khan crossed the Attack on the 29th of March, and was expected in a day or two, his brothers Sirdar Peer Mahomed and Saiud Mahomed having gone out to meet him, and he was to be permitted to re-enter Peshawur, after an absence of seven years, with as much state as he could take on himself. A short note from our own oorrespondent conveys the intelligence, that the Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan was at Tegree, in the valley of Lughman, about ten mlles from Buddeeabad; that Mahomed Shah Khan Ghilzaie has fled to the hills, leaving his brother Dost Mahomed Khan to defend the post of Buddeerbad, against which the Ameer had sent his troops; that Mahomed Shah Khan expressed himself willing to surrender the property of the late Mahomed Ukhbar Khan, but unwilling to trust himself to the Ameer; that Azeez Khan and other chiefs were still in open rebellion, and that the road from the Khaibar to Kabul was closed. Our correspondent speaks in high terms of the reforms and improvement which the presence of British officers are likely to effect in the Peshawur district.-Delhi Gazette, April 10. The Peshawur regular intelligence extends to the 18th March. On the 5th of that month orders were issued for the enlistment of 100 suwars. News were brought into the town, that Dhereea Khan, the state prisoner who had escaped from Govindghur, had arrived in his own village, and sent messengers to Peer Mahomed to endeavour to secure his intercession for a final settlement of his affairs. The intelligence that Sirdar Sultan Mahomed Khan had obtained leave to return to Peshawur, afforded such satisfaction to his brother Peer Mahomed, that he gave a horse to the man who first informed him of the fact. He immediately sent to enquire of Major G. Lawrence whether it was indeed true, and was overjoyed on the intelligence being confirmed by that officer. On the 6th of March, Major Lawrence went out to inspect the fort of Jumrood, and in the afternoon presented Sirdars Peer Mahomed and Saiud Mahomed with Kheluts, desiring them to furnish Razeenamahs from all their Hushtnuggur Ryots. A dispute regarding water for Jumrood was this day settled to the satisfaction of those concerned. Aka Ismael is reported to have quitted Peshawur on the 11th, in the capacity of news writer at Cabool, and to have accompanied a kafila which left for Jellalabad on that day. A sale of the horses which had been presented as Nuzzurs to Major G. Lawrence took place on the 12th, and yielded Rs. 1,527. A new cantonment was commenced on the 13th, at the Baladurree, near the village of Takal. On the 18th, the Governor, Sirdar Aopar Singh, was making the most extensive preparations for giving a party on a grand scale to Major G. Lawrence, to which all the chiefs in the neighbourhood were to be invited.-Ibid. April 14. CEYLON. DOMESTIC. BIRTHS. DICK, the lady of Fred. L. c.s. d. at Negombo, March 28. LEE, the wife of George, s. at Colpetty, April 6. MARRIAGES. BUTTLER, Samuel, to Eliza H. d. of Thomas Simpson, at Colombo, March 24. ROMER, Arthur, to Georgiana Gruneison, at Colombo, March 20. WHITEHOUSE, Edwyn S. to Eliza Maria, d. of M. J. Lemarchand, at Jaffua, March 23. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. WRECK OF THE "GILBERT HENDERSON." Port Elizabeth, 17th March, 1847. One of those disgraceful exhibitions which tend to bring Algoa Bay into disrepute among the shipping interests and underwriters at home, and enhance the rate of premiums paid by our colonial merchants, occurred here yesterday. It had been blowing, but by no means strongly, from the S. E. the greater part of Monday; and yesterday morning the breeze came in again, but more moderately, than the day before, and with very little sea. Towards the afternoon it almost lulled away, when, to the surprise of every one, at about 4 P.M., the Gilbert Henderson was observed to be adrift, and athwart hawse of the schooner Waterloo. After carrying away her jib-boom and bowsprit, and doing some other damage, she got clear of her, and then with her jib up, she stood in towards the landing place. When nearly in the surf her head was got round, and she shewed signs of beating out, but it was too late, and she grounded near the old Jetty. It was the general opinion that she might have been worked out easily, but a more miserable display of seamanship has scarcely ever been witnessed, and, as was quaintly ob. served by an old nautical, who has known the bay for many years, the means adopted for taking the ship out were much the same as "if he had spanned in his bullocks behind his waggon instead of in front." Some idea may be formed of the state of the sea by the fact that a boat full of men came to her assistance from one of the other vessels, and rowed back again after she had grounded; and that the ship's jolly-boat was lowered, and, with females in her, was actually sculled on shore through the surf. Immediately after striking, the lanyards of all the masts were cut away, and the foremast soon afterwards came by the board, carrying with it the main and mizen topmasts and rigging, and this fine-looking barque now lies a total wreck.-Sam. Sly's African Journal, April 1. ANOTHER VERSION. On Tuesday last, about p.m., the barque Gilbert Henderson parted, and came on shore opposite Jetty-street. The sea at the time was by no means high, nor was the wind, then blowing, by any means such as to lead the people to expect a shipwreck. It seems, however, that the previous day, during the whole of which a strong south easter was blowing, the vessel had parted her chief cables, and that on the Tuesday she was riding only by the stream anchor; so that a very inconsiderable swell was sufficient to bring a vessel of the size of the Gilbert Henderson ashore. It is always ungenerous in the extreme, and generally not very well considered, to cast blame on any parties where a serious accident has taken place. At the same time, when by such an accident other interests may be greatly prejudiced, it is proper that nothing be concealed through mere generosity of feeling, by which such prejudice may be aggravated; and as the character of our bay must suffer more or less from every ship. wreck that takes place in it, we should not do right were we to omit to observe here, that neither the swell of the sea at the time nor violence of the wind was sufficient to lead any one to expect to see a vessel on shore on Tuesday afternoon. No doubt the captain can and will explain the cause, and if between the time of her parting her chief cables, and that of her coming ashore, it was not possible to get off other anchors, the shipwreck is at once accounted for by the insufficiency of any stream anchor to hold such a vessel even during the partial gale of Tuesday last. We regret to have to add to this account that the Gilbert Henderson, after parting, came foul of the Waterloo, carried away her bowsprit, and otherwise seriously damaged that vessel. The amount of injury done here we have not yet learned. The captain's lady, with other two, and all the crew, were landed soon after the vessel struck, which is now added to the number of melancholy wrecks which dot our beach. On this occasion, the activity of the port captain, and his promptitude in rendering assistance, were, as on like occasions, conspicuous.— Port Elizabeth Herald, March 20. MISCELLANEOUS. EASTERN PROVINCES.-This day, March 18th, about noon, his Excellency the Right Hon. the Governor took his departure from Graham's Town for Kaffirland. His Excellency rode in a carriage, and was escorted a short distance from town by the "Sporting Club," whose activity, courage, and zeal, are the theme of deserved commendation. The route taken is by Bathurst and Waterloo Bay, and thence upwards to Fort Peddie, where his Excellency will be received by the commander of the forces, Sir George Berkeley, and other military officers.-Graham's Town Journal, March 20. FRONTIER NEWS.—Saturday, March 20th.-We have intelligence of a conference that was held on the 17th instant, at Fort Beaufort, between the Government Commissioner, Mr. Calderwood, and some of the Gaika chiefs. The object of this meeting was, we believe, to inform them of the determination which his Excellency had come to, in dealing with them, and they were told that cattle and arms must be given up. Sandilla, who, it is said, came rather late, and exhibited a little haughtiness in his bearing, said, the Government had asked them for their guns, and they had been given up; they had also given up their assagais, as well as their cattle. We have not heard the terms which were proposed to them, but it is said that they were told that unless they submitted to them, they would be driven beyond the Kei. Mr. Calderwood also assured them that the Government, though desirous of peace, would not shrink from, and was quite prepared for, war, should it be necessary. A letter which we have seen states-" Mr. Calderwood stood his ground well. The chiefs appeared to wish for peace on their own terms, that is, that they should be allowed to keep the spoil which they have taken from the colony, and the Government should be content with what they have already given up. could not, of course, be acceded to. As they dispersed, they said to one another, Well, let the English come, we are prepared This for them. The Kafirs ought not to be allowed to reap the corn." On the 18th, Col, Somerset passed through Kafir Drift Post, on his way to Fort Peddie. -Monday. We deeply regret to learn that Mr. Lennox Lloyd, second son of Mr. Lloyd, the magistrate at Port Elizabeth, has been drowned in attempting to swim with his horse across the Fish river from Fort Dacres to Waterloo Bay. It appears that as soon as his horse found himself in deep water, he turned over with his rider, who was unable to extricate himself. The body had not been found. The deceased had come to the frontier second in command of the Port Elizabeth levy, in raising which he had shown much activity and zeal. No accident happened to any of his companions, most of whom, we are informed, availed themselves of the ferry, making their horses swim after them..... His Excellency arrived at Waterloo Bay on Thursday evening, and proceeded next day to Fort Peddie. On Saturday there were four vessels in the bay, chiefly loaded with Government stores, viz., Conch, Lady Leith, Justitia, and Ann. The African Maid sailed on Friday. Mrs. Capt. Maclean had a very narrow escape the other day of falling into the hands of the enemy. Mr. Shepstone was driving her and her young family in a carriage, and the party were about two miles from Fort Peddie, near Mount Somerset, when three Kaffirs armed with guns, rushing towards them from a spot called Umkey's Kloof, attempted to intercept them. Mr. Shepstone, perceiving the danger, instantly turned his horses' heads, and putting them at full speed, made the best of his way back to the fort, followed by the Kaffirs, who only gave up the chase on the carriage being drawn up near a bush in sight of the fort. On Sunday an attempt was made by Kaffirs to drive away the Farmerfield oxen whilst in the field, but were prevented by the herdsmen firing upon them. A patrole was then sent out and discovered in the Bushman River Kloof, below Jager's Drift, five spots where Kaffirs had evidently been locating themselves. The Lower Bushman River contingent start this morning for Fort Peddie.-Frontier Times, March 23. Loss OF THE "MONTAGU."-The Reward, which arrived in Table Bay, on the 30th ult., reports having spoken the Louisa, whose captain stated that on the 29th he fell in with the schooner Montagu, bottom upwards. This ill-fated craft left Table Bay for the Kowie on the 21st, and there is no doubt the master, Mr. Wood, and all on board met with a watery grave.-Zuid Afikaan, April 1. STORM.-Yesterday morning one of the heaviest showers of rain that we have ever witnessed, fell in this district. So completely did it obscure the heavens that it brought to parties on the beach, their horizon considerably within the shipping. It was accompanied by frequent flashes of lightning and almost continued thunder. The streets have greatly suffered from it, by the large deposits which have been carried down from the several kloofs that open upon the Port town.-Sam Sly's African Journal, April 1. ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1847. In our last we briefly adverted to the republication in India of what is there familiarly called the "gagging order;" and, without offering any opinion on the merits of the step, expressed a conviction, in which every one, we imagine, must participate, that, having been taken, all servants of the Government must be treated impartially in respect of it. Our expectation on this point seems, indeed, to be universally entertained: but on the order itself and its revival, there is great diversity of opinion; and several correspondents, consumed by a fiery spirit of advocacy, some on one side and some on another, have called upon us to make common cause with them, and rush headlong into the thick of the controversy. Complaints reach us from both sides that we have not declared ourselves; and all our friends take for granted that we must think as they do. All demand an active co-operation with them, though one half denounce in unmeasured terms the publication, which the other half laud as an emanation of the profoundest political wisdom. Thus pressed on both sides-like the Irishman when the tax on hair-powder was first imposed, who, having been knocked down by a body of democrats for wearing that aristocratic luxury, then kicked by a party of ministerialists for appearing without it, was subsequently cuffed on all hands when he endeavoured to please everybody by powdering one half of his locks, and leaving the rest of the colour which nature had bestowed upon them-we feel it necessary to offer some remarks upon a subject to which otherwise we should not perhaps have deemed it necessary to return; and having taken our determination, we shall deliver our opinion freely and honestly, without any sprinkling of the amiable feeling which induced the accommodating Hibernian to sport a piebald head in the hope of securing universal popularity. We hold it, then, to be indisputably clear that every government has a right to communicate any information which it may possess, or at its pleasure to withhold such communication, unless it be called for by some competent authority, as by that of Parliament. Even that illustrious authority exercises its power of calling for imformation with great caution. A member intimates a desire for the production of some papers in the Foreign Department, for instance; the Secretary in that department rises and declares that the public service would suffer by their production; the House in such a case will not sanction their being called for. We❘ are quite aware that the power possessed by official men of thus determining what shall be given and what withheld, may, like all other power, be abused. A minister may declare that the interests of the public service would be en- dangered by the production of documents, when the only thing in danger is his own reputation. He may keep back information because it would shew him to be a a noodle or a blunderer, and all the while profess himself to be only exercising a just care of his sovereign's honour and his country's interest. But this inconvenience we must put up with, or run the risk of worse; for now that JERRY BENTHAM is dead, nobody, we suppose, dreams of constructing a government machine which shall be effective to produce all conceivable good, and powerless, if any attempt be made to convert it into an instrument of evil. In this imperfect world of ours, we must occasionally submit to abuse from taking the words of functionaries, where, if we had the means of judging, we should not, and ought not, to trust them. The evil is a condition of our existence;to complain of it would be idle,-to attempt to escape it, in many cases ruinous. Now if such cases exist, and must exist, in England under a Government in which the people themselves have so large a share in the government, and where those who govern and those who are governed are of the same race, speak the same language, and profess the same religion, how much more indispensable must it be in India, where a handful of strangers exercise the functions of sovereignty over many millions differing from themselves in almost every particular in which human beings can differ from each other-how much more indispensable must it be there, to secure to the Govern ment the power of determining what it will reveal, and Further, as abuse is not inherent in the power, though it J that they would have been censured for taking the course which was pursued by the NAPIERS with impunity; this would have been too monstrous: but honourable-minded men fear other things besides direct censure. Those who "feel a stain like a wound,” will be careful not to incur even the suspicion of having acted wrongly. The NAPIERS, however, have enjoyed a degree of indulgence never conceded to living men in any other instance. Was it ever heard, that before giving to the public a series of important papers, one of the parties most deeply interested in the questions at issue, should be permitted to interpolate and comment upon the letters of his opponent, as was done in the Blue Book on Scinde? The grant of this privilege has astonished mankind once-it can never occur again. And so with the publication of garbled official information for private purposes this, too, is at an end. Neither NAPIER nor anbody else can now make such publication without leave asked and granted. If granted on one side, can it be refused on the other? Oh, no! Not only common justice but common decency would forbid it. Both sides must be silent, or both must be allowed to speak, with the like advantages. On the whole, then, we do not entertain any great apprehension of evil from the renewal of the restraining order. We are no friends to unnecessary secrecy; and the parade of official mystery, which is often made about very trivial matters, is a fit subject for ARISTOPHANES or PUNCH. The swelling dignity of men bursting with the pressure of a secret, which, if its value could be previously ascertained, no creature would care to possess, is often truly ludicrous. It may be well for Tom Noddies to knit the brows, and shake the head, and look mysterious, in order to give themselves importance, being unable to secure this privilege by any other mode; but face-making, and superciliousness, and blank looks, where there is nothing to conceal, are artifices beneath any public man but the bailiff, who has in his pocket the key of the room where a jury are assembled for deliberation. Still, though the needless affectation of secrecy is gross folly, secrecy must sometimes be maintained, and we ought not to assume that it will be always abused. Parents must be entrusted with nearly absolute power over their children; but they are not to abuse this power, and ordinarily they do not. Governments, if they are to exist for any useful purpose, must judge for themselves, absolutely and without control, what is fit to be made public and what is not. They ought, indeed, to judge discreetly and act liberally; and one of the most effective modes of leading them so to judge and act, is to repose in them a generous confidence,-not to regard them with unnecessary suspicion, but to give them credit for meaning well unless the contrary be apparent. DEBATE AT THE EAST-INDIA HOUSE. A Special General Court of Proprietors of East-India Stock was held on the 26th ult., for the purpose assigned in the following requisition, addressed to the Court of Directors :— "London, May 8, 1847. "Hon. Sirs,-We, the undersigned proprietors of East-India Stock, request that your hon. Court will convene a Special General Court of Proprietors, at the earliest convenient period, for the purpose of taking into consideration the acknowledgment returned by the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India to the resolution passed by the Special General Court of Proprietors held on the 25th March last, in order that the Court of Proprietors, having due regard to the responsible trust vested in them by law, may deter The minutes of the last Court were read and confirmed, certain Parliamentary returns were laid on the table, and the bylaws having been read, the following correspondence was read :No. 1. From the Secretary to the Court of Directors to the Secretary to the Board of Commissioners. East-India House, 30th March, 1847. "Sir, I have received the commands of the Court of Directors of the East-India Company, in accordance with the request of the general Court of Proprietors, to transmit to you, for submission to the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, a resolution passed by the general Court on the 25th inst., of which the following is a copy: "Resolved,-That inasmuch as all papers relating to the ExRajah of Sattara, and hitherto recorded in the Secret Department, have been produced and laid before the Court of Proprietors, the Court of Directors be respectfully requested to obtain the sanction of the Board of Control for the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors to lay before the Court of Proprietors all correspondence which has passed between the home authorities and the Government of India in relation to or concerning the Ex. Rajah of Sattara, which arose in consequence of a communication publicly made to the Court of Proprietors at the Quarterly General Court held on the 18th of March, 1846, and which has not yet been communicated to this Court." "I have, &c., From the Secretary to the Board of Commissioners to the Secretary to the Court of Directors, in reply. "India Board, March 30th, 1847. "Sir,-Having laid before the Commissioners for the Affairs of India your letter of this day's date, submitting, by command of the Court of Directors of the East-India Company, a resolution passed by the general Court of Proprietors on the 25th inst., in relation to the case of the Ex-Rajah of Sattara, I have received the instructions of the Board to acknowledge the receipt of that communication. "I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, (Signed) "GEORGE BYNG. "J. C. Melvill, Esq., &c. &c. &c." The CHAIRMAN (Henry St. George Tucker, Esq.) called on Mr. LEWIS, who said it would be in the recollection of all, that on the last Court-day he had the honour of submitting a resolution calling on the President of the Board to permit the production of certain papers named in that resolution, and that it was carried by a majority of two. Considerable correspondence bad since passed between him and the Court of Directors concerning the transmission of that resolution to the Board, and the answer of that body. It was obvious from the simple acknowledgment by the Board that it was not intended to grant the documents referred to, for if it had been their intention to give them, it would have been easy to have said so in the reply, but as that reply was a mere acknowledgment of their receipt of the resolution, he was justified in coming to the conclusion that the Board of Control did not intend to rescind its refusal to the House of Commons. (Hear.) Such was the manner in which the resolution of that Court had been treated by the Board, supported as that vote had been by the distinguished gentleman occupying the chair, and by several other gentlemen on both sides the bar, for whom all entertained a high respect. He would not characterize the conduct of the President as it deserved, but would leave that gentleman to his own reflections. All his (Mr. Lewis's) feelings were absorbed in the idea that a person holding the situation of the President of the Board of Control, in gratifying an angry and splenetic temper, could so far forget the courtesy and respect to which the proceedings of that Court were entitled, as had been shewn in the present case. (Hear.) He sincerely trusted that they would mark the sense of the impropriety, impolicy, and injustice of suppressing these important documents. The legality of such a matter being conducted by |