Sir Charles Wingfield brought forward the case of the Nuwab
of Tonk on Friday week, asking that he should be allowed an appeal to the Privy Council, but was defeated by 120 to 81. We have argued the case elsewhere, but must mention here that the doubt raised by Mr. T. Hughes as to the right of the British .Government to try the Nuwab of Tonk at all, be being a sovereign Prince, has no foundation. The Queen is Suzerain -of India by written agreement with every sovereign, by -the formal admission of the Princes themselves, and by her succession to the very vague but still supreme rights -of the Mogul. It is not her authority, but the method of its use, which is discussed by the Princes themselves. The other argument pushed by Mr. Fowler, that a native prince must have an appeal to somebody, is much more serious ; but the truth is that he has one, namely, to Parliament, which ought not to cancel or alter an act essentially political, but ought, if it conceives judg- ment to have been given corruptly, oppressively, or from negli- gence, to dismiss its agent, namely, the Viceroy. The true analogy is not the procedure of a Court of Justice, but the procedure by which we ensure endurable treaties.
Previous page
