Parliament immediately after the hurricane which carried the Reform
Bill. All these circumstances rendered it difficult for the Government,
however honestly disposed, to pass the best measure for the government
of India. But all the difficulties which then existed appear to me
wholly to have vanished. Never has any question come before Parliament
more entirely free from a complication of that nature, or one which the
House has the opportunity of more quietly and calmly considering, than
the question now before them.

I should have been pleased if the right hon. Gentleman had given the
House the testimony of some two or three persons on his own side of the
question. But, as he has not done so, I will trouble the House by
referring to some authorities in support of my own views. I will first
refer to the work of Mr. Campbell, which has already been quoted by the
right hon. Gentleman. It is a very interesting book, and gives a great
deal of information. That writer says--

'The division of authority between the Board of Control and the
Court of Directors, the large number of directors, and the
peculiar system by which measures are originated in the Court,
sent for approval to the Board, then back again to the Court, and
so on, render all deliverances very slow and difficult; and when
a measure is discussed in India, the announcement that it has
been referred to the Court of Directors is often regarded as an
indefinite postponement. In fact, it is evident that (able and
experienced as are many of the individual directors) twenty-four
directors in one place, and a Board of Control in another, are
not likely very speedily to unite in one opinion upon any
doubtful point.'