The Express. — London, England, 1851-05-28 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS.--eresDAT, MAT 27. Me Loan Caanem.t.ou took his seat at Ave o'clock. PUBLIC-HOUSES (SCOTLAND) BILL. Lard K I NNAI ItD mooed the aroma reading of this bill, which was precisely similar to the hill passed by their lord 'hips hug y,ar, bat which could lot paw through the other boost of pirliansost, in consequence of its basin,/ reached flat honer 10 late is the scsuon. The chief o'iject was le peened arrears and other shopkeepers from telling spirits, ihe tendency of which was to encourage drunkenn..«e among aereerte end ether priori going to their ,hupt fur other articles. The bill was supported by all the most respectable at se hail r"' MINTO did mot object to the second reading of the bill, but be hoped it weuld be referred to a select Malaraittee. - . LardKINNAIRD said the bill had been 54 fully mai domed in a fall ham t'ut he did nut think it neccriery. After a few word• from the Earl of ?Meru, a a The Duke of ARGYLL esprevaed his approval of the prineirec awl many of the details of the bill ; but he thought it did not go far en .ugh. Ile wished the magistrates to have final jurielicti an on the subjtet of granting licenses. The Earl of EGLINTON approved of thi bill, and thought a "elect enwnittec quite unnecessary. The Earl of MINTO had not moved an amendment, sad did not wish to olf:r any factious oppoCtion to the bill. The Duke of RICHMOND sapp wtecl the hill. The Duke of Rea:LEI:CH approved of the principle of the bill, and hoped that however it might he amended is committee, it would In passed en a form wilich would toad to cheek the elixting evils. Lord K INNAIRD replied ; and the bill was then read • second tine, and ordered to A: committed on Friday. Their lordssipe then adjourned until Friday next. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUFAMT, MAY 27. The Ser-Auta took the chair at the *mull hour. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following iniirea7rt;tlaeetonatime: Caledonian Railway (Motherwell Br.utch Est ninon and Letimahagow Bratehe•l hill. were considered, and laid on the table of Great Southern and W,tern Sailway (Ireland) Bill—amend wools to be proposed ; Manchester Waterworks Bill; Marypost and Carlisle Railway ; South Staffordshire Railway (Branch.. to join the Birmingham, Wolverhonsp ton, and sour Valley Itailwar, Se.) lian—amendawnt. to be proposed; Stockton, Misldo.brough, Yarn), &c., Water works Bill; Memnon.. and Lancaster It silway Bill. The following bills were read a third time: Ike Standard Restoration 3111; Great Central Uas Consumers'ipompany PUBLIC lII:SINERS. ATTENDANCE AT COMMITTEER. Lord "committee en group 2q, that Mr. Hayward had not attended the com mittee on that day. Mr. II AYWARD stated that he had bees attending the church-rite enassaittee. The sPEAK KR ordered that the hon. member should attend the committee to-d..y. IN PERNATMNAL PEACE. Mr. CMIDRS alive notice that on an early day in June it was hi , intention to move that an humble addres, be pre.ente.l to her M ijesty, praying that ohs would direct her ini4i r for Foreign Altair. to enter into communications with the government of France, with a view to checking any rivalry in warlike preparations, and to the prevention of tutu, t• lipptals MONOPOLY. ..... „.... Mr. 1117 MR Rave notirr for an early day to more a reso lution, puthug an cad to the prvvent mouopu:y iu the sale CAPE COLONY. Mr. A 11DERI.F. 1 1 give . notice that on the 17th of June be WOlllll mine That no humble infarct. he presented to her Maje.ty, ',raving that relief may he off inled to those sulTering I law, among others especially referred to in her Majesty's newt x 7160114 speech from the throne, by such retrenelitneut of public expenditure as is incurred for wan with the sassde tribes of Africa ; and humbly submitting to her Maje.ty th it fatal retrenchment may be 01daints1 Moore by bestowing on the colony of the Cape of (faml Unpa tho, me.n, of all-goverameot which has been already pre viously off red Oman." THE BALLOT. Mr. FILEY po.tiootied, until the I, th of June, his 111ulion ri !Aire to the hillot. EitNEsT JoNEs. Lord I). STUART moved that the petition of Ernest J. 111.11 printed with the t?t,:..-Agreed to. BORNEO. Mr. In.:AI/LAM aslied Mr. flame whether the with drawal of hi. moot' on the 20th indent, concerning cer tain proseoalinga on the coat of Borneo, was to he cnii aid. red 4, an :than Moment of the charges ematained in that Data, aro,. the character and Met of Sir Janice Brooke? Mr. 1111 . NIE denied that he hail withdrawn the motion.. bat dated thst he had postponed it at the request of Inn! Palmerston, who urged that Itajoh Brooke might con amputted in this country. Ile had since applied to the atos1.1111141•nt to give bin a day to luring forward his motion, bait they haul rendered him no assistance whatever. He haul wit shrunk from bringing forward hi. motion, nor uvula he; and he hooped that after the challenge he now Made, Lord John Itusell would give him an opportunity remaking gond his allegations. Afire a few words from Mr. lie %IMAM as to the time when the motion WAS poodponed. and an oboorvation iu en ptanatien from Mr. II ear. the subject dropped. WonIDS. FORESTS. Ae. 111 1.1.. Lord Dl' Nr.XN inquired whether this bill, which stood for monadic,. MI Friday next, would Is. brought on 1.1 II that day, and it an hour when it could 10.. olinurool ? Lord did not expert to he able to bring the bill on 000 i Frei'', but would do so at the earli e st p e ri o d when ;111 opportunity olf seed, :mot it an hour when the elm. , insight he discussed. Lord 11l NUAN gave notice that he should then move • clad, viol..lying the renoluti ~,, which h.• had narneol 011 the 11th of March Lost, and which had been adopted by the boom, AFFAIRS OP CEYI.ON.—CONDUCT OF LORD *ftlltlt.lNlt lON. Mr. 11. BAILLIR. in Winging forward hi• motion, said I t►at this wt. W. hm.p•r a question in which the interests of o the esolonty were dune r oneersaml, it involved the interests of all our rot mi., the &mina r charaeter of the country, and the lu. t of ot committee of that hou«• ; and these wen• the grounds upsm which hr had felt it to be his okay, as chair man of the Ceylon Committee, to bring the question before the house•. In so doing he should find it necessary to dom.': tie' ipliCtUOU fat,, two distinct parts. In the first place, he would call attention to the proceedings of the c.. ',mitt,. and, subsequently, he would advert to the Oa whirl, he grounded the resolution he should presently hose the• honour to submit. Before he proceeded further ,t might, perhaps, he a. well that he should remind the• house of the nature of the n•olutiuo wader which the Ceylon committee had been apPpointed— • r. oolut eon, he at remembered, which the house had passed tan onionously. That resolution had been framed with peenhar care thanks to the interference of the government, and the hon. gentlemen opposite (Mr. Ilawes, we believe) —and the consequence was that the duty of the committee was dearly defined • and distinctly laid down in the resolution. The terms of the resolution were as fol lows '• 'That a select committee he appointed to inquire into the grievances complained of in the crown colonies of Ceylon and Doltish Guiana, in tonne with the adminis tration government of those dependencies, and to re port th e ir opinion whether any MeVUTe. can be adopted tar the redress of any grievances of which there may be shown just mason to complain; and also, whether any ,•:wore. can he• adopted for the better administration and goveniment of those depe•ndencie•s." This resolution was altered by the hon. gentleman opposite, expressly for the purisose• of preventing the• committee Iron entering into any quest' with respect to the general state of the colonies, and Boer. tore the inquiry was limited to the administration and gosernnne•ot of these• dependencies, and to report whe ther any grievances rti.t••l whi.•h might be remedied. (Hear, hear) In their report the committee followed the instruction. they had received with regard to the first part of the resolution, but after two years inquiry they had not thought tit to inform the Home of Commons whether any grievance exist.•.l or not. Neither had they followed the last point on which they were direet.sl -namely, to report whether any measure could he• :Mooted for the better administration and govern ment of the oubany. (limy, hear.) Instead of doing this they had referred the whole m Mee to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, into whose conduct the committee were virtually appointed to inquire. The question natu tally arose, what could have induced the committee to dis regard the instructions of the h mu., and so to defeat their intentions When first he lining nt the subject of the grievances of Ceylon under the notice of parliament, It certainly never occurred t•. him to call upon the House of Commons to in dict ono. cool penalties either ups the Governor of Ceylon or any of the subsordinateufteers of the• Ceylon government ; for 800 m.% lie was well aware that the government of Ceylon e at excited great discontent in the colony, he was Ms., aware that the conduct of the governor had received the entire approbation of hir Majesty's minist.•r-. and that the Si sretary of State for the Coloni. • had assumed and taken upon himself the acts of tl.,t governor by sanctioning them. (•' Hear, hear." • from Mr. Hawes.) Therefore. as he (Mr. Baillie) stated at the time. he held the noble lord the Secretary of State rc sponsib!, for those acts. Such • however. slid not appear to be the view taken by the majority of the Ceylon Com mittee, for all their ingenuity appeared to have been di- I rected in framing their report to devise means whereby the Secretary of state might be exempt from all blame, and irnspective altogether of whet wield Ise the c en-equence to I or the fate of Lord Torrington—that the Secretary of State should stand free from any .uppu•.d censure. How WAS this to be accomplished ? The committee were called upon to express an (minion favourable or oth mite to the govern ment• and if they thought the conduct of Lord Torrington deserving of censure, it followed, as matter of course • that that of the noble lord the Colonist Secretary. who had sanc tioned all Lord Torrington's acts, was deserving of censure also. (Hear.) To escape from this difficulty the committee came to the extraordinary resolution not to make any report at all to the Rouse of Commons on the merits of ow case. but at the same time they came to • private understanding with the hon. gentleman the Under Secre tary for the Colonies that Lord Torrington should be at once rec died. C•' No. no," from Mr. Hawes.) But to prevent the inouitice of such a course striking too forcibly the attention of the how,, and the public, the report was indus:.i nasty circulated that Lord Torriugtoo was to be removed in con sequence of some supposed private misunderstanding, the Under Secretary for the Colonies declaring that he should he at all tirace prepared Wjustify al/ Eyed Imingteu's public acts. (Lend cries of " Haar, hear," from Mr. Hawes.) The hon. gentleman assented —( Mr. Hawes —. lieu , hear "; —and he would now have ample opportunity of redeeming his pledge. In the meantime he (Mr. Blink) would °bent* that a more unjust course as regarded the interests of Ler! Torrington himself, Lord Torrington 's worst enemy could not have devised—(hear, hoar)—for by the very act of his removal immediatelyfifter the inquiry . he stood condemned in the public Mad without hav ing the ad-. vantage of haring his defence published. (Hear.) The hoe. gentleman had objected to his (Mr. Bailie's) state ment—that Lord Torrington had been recalled by a pri vate understanding come to between the hon. gentleman and the committee ("Hear hear," from Mr. Hawes.) It would probehly be in the hon. gentleman's recollection that in the report of the committee it was stated —" Your committee recommend their re-appointment at the com mencement of the next session ankle any measure should, It the maeastime, be adopted which may obviate the ne- MAW OF farther investigation." Ile (Mr. Baillie) asked She Win lied who proposed that resolution (Lord 'Lothian) what semi Meaat by these latter words, and the reply was, " It stet be obvious to the committee that I mean the re eall of Lord Torrington." (Hear, hear.) Ho then turned to the Hon. Under Secretary, and asked hint, " Is that the meaning that attaches to these words >" To which the hon. gentleman answered," Certainly it is." The resolution net to report the evidence was adopted on the ground that certain letter of a private and confidential character had been laid before the committee as evidence, which ought not to be made public. (" Hair, hear," hom Mr. Hawes.) But what was remarkable was that this resolution hail been ear tied by the votes of those at whose instances the witnesses had been compelled to produce those private and confiden tial letters, amongst the foremost of whom was the boo. member the Under Secretary for the Colonies. (Hear, bear.) The honourable gentleman having catered into an explanation of the course pursued by the Ceylon committee in the conduct of their inquiry, which bad necessitated the production of the private corres pondence of official and other persons, came to the question of the evidence laid befnre the committee The evidence on the question, as to the nature and extent of the rebellion, and as to whether or not there was any necessity for proclaiming martial law, was so confiicting, that he would not ask the house to express an opinion upon theta, but what h., would call upon the house. to decide was, whether the manner in which martial law had been tarried into effect in the colony could, under any circumstance+, have been justified ; more cape ' cMlly whether they could have been justified by the actu al circumstances of this particular C 14 1 5, when martial law was proclaimed—those circumstances being thatthe disturbances had altogether ceased ; nobody being in arms against the authority of the Queen, but the whole country being in a state of tranquillity. (Hear, hear.) On this point there could be no dispute, and on this he founded the resolu tion he asked the house to anent to. When the committee list commenced their inquiry they thought it advisable to request the attendance of the Judge Advocate, in order that they might have the benefit and ad- vantage of his high legal knowledge and experience, and in the course of his evidence the right hon. and learned gentleman stated it to be his opinion that martial law might never to be imposed except in a case of extreme ne loosolity, and that martial law was no law, but rather the eh ' sence of all law. (Ilear, hear.) With all deference to the great legal knowledge of the Judge Advocate, he (Mr. Baillie) could not mincer in the: interpretation of Inertial law, at least without considerable qualification. It might be true that martial law, as we usually understood it was not a written law, but neither was the common law of England a written law. He contended that martial law must be governed by precedent, and lie reminded the house that when the Duke of Wellington proclaimed martial law in the year ISI4, the laws were carried out according to the orders and tribunals of the country. When Ceylon was perfectly tranquil, it an happened that a supreme coon was ordered to he held at Kandy, simulta neously with courts martial ordered to he held in the neigh bouring towne, for the trial of persons, many of whom were accesed of high treason. These courts were generally composed of three subaltern officers. These young officers had evidently commenced their proceedings with an anxious I desire to discharge their duty, and to carry out the rules and regulations usually adopted on similar occenuus. Un fortunately they were not allowed to do so. They commenced their proceedings by the appointment of a judge-advecate. They were informed that ajudgradrocate was unnecessary, and that the important part of their pro eeedings was to he convinced of the guilt of the prisoner ; and of course their plan of procedure was conducted accord ingly. They proceeded with the trial of five persons • three of whims being told that they were convicted of rebellion they must suffer death. The first oilers issued by Colonel Drought were to the effect, that courts martial were to be i held, that no persons were to be brought to trial except those who were certain of being convicted, that the article+ of war, so fir as practicable, were to be adhered to, and I that, after the dammed of the trials, the proceedings were ' to be forwarded. Now, these proceeding, were important, I the more particularly so as the officers were instructed to I adhere, as far a+ practicable, to the articles of war. The next orders were dated the Pith of August, 1818, and were I addressed to " My dear Watson." They were I to the effect that all rebels, convicted of rebellion, should suffer death, and that the principal point to aver. 5 fain was, whether the parties were guilty or not. These I order* 414 5 ,4 5 followed by other, also addressed to "my dear I Watson," in which ho was informed that " he was getting en swimingly." The correspondence concluded with an- I other letter an " my dear Watson," in which he was told that it nut being necessary to have judge advocate* the prac tice 5.1 * basin; them might be dismontinued. Now. the etatements here made by Col. Drought were entirely un- I founolel, and they hal called forth a remonstrance. A* a proof that during the whole of these proceedings the country was perfectly tranquil, there were small detachments of twenty men (deang duty in the districts, and iu no one single instance was the I slightest resistance made to then. troops. Lieutenant Hen illercon het been em cloyed on this duty. in his examimi- I tion he was asked by Mr. Hewer whether, when he was I stationed in the country, it was perf eely quiet. Ile an- I 'wooed, " perfectly quiet." Now, if the. were true, it showed the mild ch 'rector of the people. Lord Torrington hail cited as a witurs Colonel Braybemke, an officer of 40 years serviee, and therefore well qualified to give an opinion on the subject, and he had ',earl his opinion as derived from the information he had received front time to time. Colonel Breybrooke ba, how ever, given hie judgment generally . against these courts martial, observing that no right-monde:l man could view without feelings of horror, the whole of the proceed ings in Kathie This was the evidence of au officer whom Lord Torrington himself hail cited. lit the same speech Lord Torrington lied said that all the rupture* in the colony were in fivoin of the measures of the government. That Wl4 II statement which he (Mr. Bailin.) heard with feelings of great surprise. He had in hi+ possession a new,. I paper, puhlieheil iu the colony on the 2.lrd of December, I in which the strongest expressions were used on this I subject, but, unfortunately, he hd not brought it down to the 'anise with him that day. One of the I chief charges advanced 34 . 1i114t the government of Ceylon wn.• that a number of men hail been executed by a number of others, who het been improperly constituted. In order to meet this charge, the government hail published the pro ceding* of a court-mertul held in Ceylon. Mr. Charles I Stuart was represented as having acted as judge-advocate, but he alleged that that was a (else return, and he would prove it to be so. On the sth of Ainfwit an extensive aye- I tem of confiscation was suggested to Sir Emerson Tennent Harsh as this suggestion was, it we not lost I upon Sir Einerem Tennent, for it assumed the form of a recommendation couched in heartless went. (which the hon. member quoted). lie then pro ceeded to point out the measures white' had been adopted in order to carry these views and opiniens into effect. For innance, a proc lamation was issued by Colonel Drought on the Bth of August, in which he proclaimed that in all the districts then under martial law, he bail ordered the seizure of all property, directed all officers to assist him, and all loyal subjects to k ep apart from the rebels, observ ing th it whoever supplied the rebels with food would forfeit his lands and property, and so forth. On the 18th of August another proclamation was issued, drawn up by Sir Emerson Tenuent, and that seemed to have been convected fur the penman of effecting the object of putting the Madames into, pomeasion of the forfeited lands. This proclamation appeared to have been ante dated; but, in order that there might be no doubt on this subject, he would nete the manner in which those procla manias were made and the mode in which they were carried into effect. The first of them had reference to the case of one of the old chiefs; and in that instance all persons were threatened with death who refused to deliver up their pro perty to that chief. Ile was the lay head of the Bhudilist religion in the colony ; but, as soon a. the destine,- :inces commenced, he was scut as a prironer to Kandy. his house was entered by a party of soldiers under the coin mend of Captain Watson, and the losses he sustained were very considerable. At the time of the seizure and sale of his property, the man was a prisoner; anti the sequel of his case was this—when the officers met and examined the ease, they found there sees not the slightest ground for putting him upon his trial ; the proceeds were afterwards tendered to him, deducting 12 per cent. for the government expenses; and the poor old man died in a few weeks afterwards front the sufferings he hail undergone. (Hear, hear.) Such bed been the treatment of this person. There was ' another case equally remarkable, that of it nun who also was a distinguished chief. His house was entered by a party of eoldiers, under the command of Cap tain Watson, and of course all his property was plun dered. His own statement of his loss was that it =mounted to 7.0001. His corn was carried off, and his cattle were seized. and the cattle were driven to Captain Watson's head-quarters and were sold at Captain Watson's door next morning, and were purchased by Captain Wat- • ama himself, who it appeared had an estate in the neigh- I bowneeed which was greatly in want of stock. (Laughter.) When the CANe of this man came to be investigated, the Queen's Advocate declared that there was no ground for l W imprisonment, and he was liberated with the same result as in the former case—a rat ill pert of his property only being proposed to be returned. 1101 r. Beillie)might ad duce volumes Of eveleuce of the same kind. The names were innumerable of the people who had been plundered in this manner, the in ijority of them being mere peasants, and not of the same clam as the two cans which he had particu larly specified. The compensation proffered in every case was absurd. If a man, for instance, had lost seven or eight pounds, he got five anilines, and the proportion was the same throughout. lie could not, however, altogether pew over the plundering of the temple's. The officers and azenta of Lord Torrington were not satisfied with the rubbery of private property, but they went on to seise the property of the temples of religion. '1 Iv: soldiers entered the temples, carried off the Images of the gods, the orna ments of the temple, the vestments of the priests, and in deed, everything of value they could lay their hands on. The Oral Tem2le of Danbool wit ploadend is THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 24, 1851. this way, and the priests were all seized and im prisoned. In throe easel, too, the property taken was sold off, but the property was not the pro perty e a a este, and the injury remained unredeemed. The Mills, Den, were in the end acquitted. Ile had now Mated'ilebriedy as he had found it in his power the manner in which` iii trials under the martial law were coaducted, and he bodtuther detailed the manner is which the d~anlaplehadbes . confiscated. li e would new galmalegerlagogin l ife had been disposed of. He r.it=ris e a ere under the notice of the house which-. had been often referred to—the case of the refusal of Lord Torrington to listen to the advice of the WO law officer of the crown, who went to solicit him to suspend the execution of a prisoner, under .enteace of death, fora short time, until it could betiacertained whether be was really guilty of the crime laid to his charge, the Queen's Advocate having reason to believe that he was in nocent. He would not enter into the question of the exact words used by Lord Torrington in this caw. That was a matter of little importance. What woe really of conse quence was the fact that the Queen's Advocate had unsuc cessfully interfered. (hear, hear.) The Queen's Advo cate was requested by Lord Torrington to draw up a statement of what had weed. He did draw up that statement, and it was as follows : "About four o'clock on the day of the priest's trial, in con sequence of information given to me by Mr. Smith, a proc tor at Kandy, I went to the Pavilion ; on my arrival I found Colonel Drought on the verandah, and mentioned to him what I had heard front Mr. Sinitb ; on which he stated in fedistance that he had great confidence in the officers who emoted the court martial, especially Major Lushington, the president, who had been in India for (several years and knew the natives; and that he must be guided by the opinion of the court. It was then announced to me that the governor was disengaged, and I was shown into the room. I informed your lordship that I had heard a priest was to be shot next morning; that Mr. Smith, the proctor, hail been with me, end had infortneed me that he hail attended the court-martial, and was satisfied, fur rea sons he had mentioned to me, that the pri at was innocent, and the evidence against hint false, and that Mr. Dunu ville, the proctor, and Mr. Jayetillike, the interpreter of the court, who had also been present at the trial, agreed with him (Mr. Smith) that it was a conspiracy against the priest; and that under these circumstances I thought myself bound to come at once to your lordship, with 4 viers of delaying the execution until further inquiry had been made. Your lordship became pale whilst I was speaking, and, when I concluded, struck your hand on your thigh, exclaiming, By God, if all the proctors in the place said the man was innocent he should die to-morrow morning,' or words to that stmt." Now it would be obvious to the house that the proctor and the interpreter were the only persons present at the trial who understood the native language. The officers who tried the prisoner were utterly ignorant of the native language ; and here it was shown that the proctor and the interpreter were fully convinced that the prisoner was innocent. What had been Lord Torrington's answer to that statement? Did he deny it? The house would judge. Lord Torrington replied thus to the law officer : " Queen's-house, September 23, 1819.—My dear Selby,— I enclose my paper, Colonel Drought was present the whole of the time. I think the remark about my turning pale an unnecessary one. I shall be happy to talk to you on the subject when we meet. Yours, T." Such had been the answer given by Lord Torrington in 1819. Ile would not trust himself to make any com ment whatever on that transaction. He would only ask the hon. gentleman the Under Secretary for the Colonies, whether thin was one of the public acts of the Ceylon government which he could be prepared to jus tify ? (Hear, hear.) If it was, let the hon. gentleman say so. It was right the House of Commons should know it. It was right that the people of England should know it. (Hear, hear.) It was right that the governors of our dis tant colonies should know the act. for which they would be entitled to the " cordial approbation " of the Colonial office and the thank+ of the crown. (Hear, hear.) Al ready the house would find that these transaction+ had not been without their effects. Sir Henry Ward in the I lonian islands seemed to have been following closely in the I steps of the late Governor of Ceylon ; and he, too, had re- I eeived the "cordial approbation" of the Colonial-uffice. (Hear, hear.) Such act. as these might indeed receive the approval of a minister, but they would never roofer honour I either on the government or on the people of this country. (Cheers.) Ile bad again to refer for a moment to the speech of Lord Torrington. In that speech the noble lord stated that he had received various addresses signed by the greater portion of the Europeans resident in the coloray, as well as by numbers of the natives. Ile (M r. Baillic) would not deny that many Europeans had I signed such addresses, or that many of the natives had been I induced to do so. But be would say, that very little ha parlance ought to be attached to such addresses as deter. Ile was supported in this opinion by the di.tinguiebed authority of Mr. Macaulay, who related in his easy en " Warren Hastings," that precisely a similar course to I that taken in the ease of Lord Torrington had been taken in the attempted defense., of Warren 'lasting.. 1 Having quoted from the essay referred to, Mr. Baillie came to the despatches of Lord Grey, giving a general approval of all these transactions. In one despatch, in lala, to Lord Tor rington, Lord Grey said, " I have hail great satisfaction in couveying to your lordship her Majesty's approbation of the measures taken to restore tranquillity and to maintain the authority of the government in Ceylon; and of the zeal, promptitude, and judgment with which you acted in put- ' Ling down the attempts that were made to ili.turh the I pears of the island and to set up a usurped authority." I This despatch was written in answer to several despatches of Lord Torrington to Lord Grey, conveying, among other ' things, enclosures, and one enclosure giving a report of the I superintendent of police in Lindy, who detailed the successful plan which lie had adopted, via., to keep quiet until an outbreak occurred, whereby he was enablei to bring the malefactors to justice. Some of the d.apatche,s gave the proclamation of martial law and accounts of all the selisequent events. In one of his despatcher replying to these of Lord Torrington, Lord Grey again said, " In more i than one of the despatches which will reach you by the prevent opportunity, I have expressed the approbation felt of your prompt and eueressful efforts to put an im mediate end to the rebellion in Ceylon. But I considering that so much objection has been taken to your financial measure., and as memorials have been tram- mated to me describing the dienintent which those men- i sures have created, I deem it due to you to record more fully than I have yet done some of the general grounds on which I approve of those measures, and on which they still appear to me to be deserving of approbation." The despatch then went on to explain the masons which induced Lord Grey to approve of the obnoxious or dinances—which ordinances had been repealed be fore the despatch was received out. (Hear, hear.) It rested with the house now to &vide whether a minister of the crown was justified in giving his approval to such transaction+, and whether such transactions were, furthermore, to receive the sanction of the Hoene of Com mons, and thereby, as he had said before, to render three transactions precedents to be adoptal on all future occasion, by such British officers who might be appointed to carry on public affairs in the colonies of this emit re. (Hear, hear.) Sir (continued the hon. gentlerniml, I am well aware of my inability to do justice to this great thente. I am well aware how feeble have been my efforts to bring this question clearly and fairly before the house. But if I have failed so to do, I have at least the conseien• tious satisfaction of knowing that, in spite of much ob iloquy, I have not shrunk from the performance of the duty entrusted to me by dui house. (Cheers.) And it now only remains for me to add, that I trust the house will adopt a course calculated to maintain the honour of the crown, and at the same time that character fur justice and humanity which has so lung, and, in neatens times, so pre-eminently, distinguished all the acts and proceedings of the British legislature. (Laud cheers.) In conclusion the hon. gentleman moved thc resolution— That this hour, having taken into Its consideration the evidence adduced before this select aoromittee appolnted to letplire into the affairs of Ceylon, is of opinion that the punishments indicted during Ike late disturbances is that Wand were enrollee and uncalled for. That this home is et opinion, that the execution "(eighteen per sons, and the im,aisonmrnt, tranngortatioa. sod ;•unlah. rent of 110 other persons on this morns, is a; ear,anee with the Indrialull administration or the British penal law., and is not rico- Islngto encore the future affecuons an l tidally of her Mititsty'a °Mo uld saierete. That this hoar is of °pita es, that these neverities are the more sin cerely to be deprecated r they were caerchied after the euppresoini of the disturbances, daring which none of her Majesty's troops or pub lie seem oats were lulleirt and enly one sildier at/lily 'rounded. That this house coot opinion, that the conduct of the late governor of Ceylon, in keeping in turn: martial law for two months, aler hie err legal adviser hid reeo amends) Its disertinuare, and during whisk period the oiel courts were nutria without danger or interrup tionomd Mr his retool to allow shoe, delay in Vie exec.:ion of • prism, at the request of the Q lera's adeocate, who wished further Investigation Into the ease, was in the higheet degree arbitrary and " grit this house is therefore of op nine ' th at the condom of Eirl Grey. in moulting her Majesty's approbates% of the condu : of Lord Torrington daring ant sumequetit to the disturbances, wa. precipi tate and injudicious, incline to estabash precedent+ of rigour and .-unity in the government et her itsjoierai foreign pram one, and injurious to tae charmer of this town-, for 'esti:, ant buissney. Mr. Serjcant MURPHY, avowing that he spoke as the advocate of Lord Torriugtou, complained that one particu lar part of that nobleman's administration had beau invi diously selected for animadversion, depriving him thereby , ' of the benefit of those parts admitted to des,eree commen dation. If justice was to be done by the house, the case would have to be looked at as a whole; and if the admi nistration of Lord Torrington was examined as a whole, ' it would be found to have been eminently successful. Lord! Torrington undertook the government of Ceylon in May, 1817. He found, on arriving out, a considerable excess of expenditure over revenue, whicli left a deficiency of nearly 80,00)1. The connect to this was that at the end of the .ow li thi f s ro e ar re in wa w s hi a c s h urp Lo l rd us T o o f rri z ttet 3.o z de N Put t w m . th a e ma colo tu ny , !Th e whits in justice ought to h ave b een stated by the honourable gentleman. When Mr Selby was el :mined by the committee as to the exact extent of hi+ own knowledge, he could only say that he hail had a " sunrise," and that from what he had " heard " he had thought martial law might at once have been put an end to. He was located at the time at Colombo, or at Kandy, attending to the trials • and it WWI not likely that he should have found any disturbances going on in those places. He (Mr. Scrjeant Murphy) would adduce the evidence, on this point, of two persons who, of all others, were most competent to speak authoritatively a.to the facts. The first to whom h e should refer was Colonel Drought. Colonel Drought was iu a peculiar position. lie hail been commandant at Kandy for two years. He belonged to the lith Reit., and had served a long time and with the appro bation of his superiors. Colonel Drought having been a} pointed to this place, a detachment of the Ceylon Rifles, wM were commanded by Col. Braybrooke, was sent up as pert of the contingent ou the breaking out of the rebellioa in the province of Upper Kandy. It appeared that Cul. Droughty getting this portion of the Ceylon contingent was Mt agreeable to Colonel Draybrooke. Colonelß b k ray roo was a gentleman in whose military talents lietd Torrington and In the neighbourhood brook', who in the beginning was a very strong and ardent believer in the propriety of the proclamation of martial kw, very naturally afterwards saw reason to change his opinion. But what did Colonel Drought say on the subject? Colonel Drought stated that it having been contended recently in England that there was no rebellion in Ceylon in 1848, he thought it necessary to adduce mine facts out of many which might be brought forward to prove that a rebellion really did exist—aiding, that for any per son in the colony who had known what had occurred, all such proofs were utterly superfluous. Now, Col. Drought, was seen in the sequel, was by no means a person to be frightened by imaginary terrors, or to conceive is rebellion where these was only a riot. In fact, the description of him was that he was rather a military martinet. Colonel Drought must have known that there were reasons for acting with considerable vigour. Let the house re member what was the first step taken by Lord Torrington. His lordship, conscious that he seas a youn4 man, and inex perienced in military affairs, did that which every wise man would do under similar circumstances. lie sought compe tent advice and assistance, and sent for Colonel Fraser, an old officer of great experience, who had been engaged in the colony in the suppression of the former rebellion. And what was the advice of that officer ? lie said, " You have laid before me accounts from the different districts by which it appears that the number of the natives in insurrection, ready to march down upon Kandy, is 60.000, having in their possession 20,093 stand of arms. While this goes on the whole of the inhabitants of Kandy Proper are discon tented with your government because you have saken away from them the right of compelling labour, rejected their idols, and depreciated their position in Ceylon. Also by ' leaded s' • • -- • 's their thought right that these offenders should be d ealt with by the civil law, and it did happen that 21 persons were found guilty before Sir Antony Oliphant, of whom seventeen were condemned to death. (" No, no.") He was prepared to show that Sir Antony Oliphant did sentence those seventeen persons to death, and that before martial law bad been proclaimed. It was true that the executions did not take place, but that fact was the best proof they could have of the clemency of the governor who extended mercy to those persons, on the ground that enough M examples had been made. lie pledged himself to show that in the blue book there was the record of 17 persons having been found guilty and sentenced to death which persons had, anterior to the courts' martial, been tried before Sir Antony Oliphant. (" Oh.") At the court martial which had been held on the priest, the proctors hail been present, and Major Lushiugton had ap pealed to them to defend him. The appeal had been heard by some of those who were afterwards the foremost in the persecution of the governor, and not one of them would un dertake the advocacy. (Hear, hear.) Nay, snore, one of these proctors had refused because the money was not at the tune forthcoming. (Hear, hear.) Ile (Mr. Murphy) asked if such would have been the conduct of any lawyer in this country ? H•td they ever heard of such a degrading instance of repudiation? fhe trial had lasted for three hours and a half, and the proceedings, which were taken down in writing, were carried to the governor, where, iu the presence of Colonel Drought, they ball been carefully read over. In these proceedings there had been a statement made by the priest, to the effect that he had tried to make the people go to the rajah, although he head no doubt afterwards tried to qualify this by saying that by d, however, been perfectl, • lac your coutlnc: you have d their privacy, which the. peculi ir delight. I tell you from my experience that this is an extremely serious outbreak, which, it' not checked in the bud, must lead to most disastrous consequences. and I tell you that you arc in the position in which the government was on u former occasion, when they found a temporising policy was vain, and you must do what the government then did—have recourse to martial law." That was the advice of Colonel Fraser. It war quite true that Lord Tor rington had given tho orders to General Brownrigg, as stated by the hon. mover, hut it was because the vilest atro eities had been committed. There was no magic in the name of raertial law. Martial law, as the hon. mover had described it to-night, was martial law under the Mutiny Act. But mar tial law was, as it had been defined by the Duke of Wel lington, " the will of the general." Martial law must be left to the discretion of the officer who wa, to administer it, and in a case of rebellion it could net be measured as to the extent to which it might be carried by the measure which people would apply to it in a time of peace. He should now proceed with Colonel Drought's statements, by which it would be made clear how erroneous were some of the podtions of the hon. member. Colonel Drought stated as follows "At the first outbreak numbers of classes in the island were so fully satisfied of the existence of a rebellion that in numerous instances Europeans abandoned their property, and tied for their lives to Kandy from their re spective estates in all parts of the adjacent country; both the civil and military authorities considered that the promptest and most energetic measure; were necessary to be at once adopted, and those Europeans who had most experience of the Kandyan character were con vinced that far more severe measures than those resorted to would be required finally to crush the insurree tim. Colonel Drought went on to state that the force under his command at the time was very insignificant indeed ; and here he (Mr. Serjeant Murphy) might observe that the whole force in Ceylon at the time was no snore than 2,100 men, and even these could not tie content rated on a given point because there were duties to be performed in various places. At no time had Colonel Braybrooke more than 1,100 men at his disposal to put down what had been de scribed as an insurrection of 00,000 men, of who;u 20,000 were armed with guns. Colonel Drought proceeded to state that his actual force available for advancing was under 400 men, while 50,000 or 60,000 armed natives were ready to fall upon us. Colonel Drought stated that there was not the slightest doubt that the object of the natives was to obtain possession of Kandy, although 1/ambool, the place where they had collected together, was 45 miles distant, and they had arrived within 15 miles of the town when met by the troops. The detachment, on arriving at Matelle, found the public buildings gutted, and as far as practicable destroyed, the houses on the surrounding coffee estates pil• lagesl and deserted by the proprietors and overseers. One European, a Mr. Baker, fell into the hands of the rebels, and was most cruelly treated ; he was rescued by the troops, but his sufferings were so great that for some time his mind was seriously affected. Nosecond attick was made on Matelle after it had been taken possession of by our troops, but shortly -"•• mider sm, rajah he meant the governor: It had, _ ...otly proved that rajah wits a term only applied to the kandian sovereign. But what had subsequently occurred ? When the priest had on the following morning been taken for exe cution, he had confessed his complicity to the transactions, both of 1813 and ISM, anti had pleaded that it was necessity which had driven him to it. As regarded the man's trial, it had been conducted in open court in the fairest manner, sad no one who heard the proceedings could have enter teinea the slightest doubt of the man's guilt, and the _notice Of the finding of the court-martial. On this point Yr. Murphy adduced the testimony of a clergyman of the established church, Mr. Owen:Olennic, who, in writing to Lord Torrington, said that he attended from the opening of the court until the delivery of the sentence, and the con elusion forced upon him by the clear and simple evidence he heard was, that there could not exist in an unbiassed man's mind a shadow of doubt as to the guilt of the priest. This was the statement of a protestant clergyman who chal lenged attention to the fact that he was by education com petent to form a judgment ou the matter—who had gone to the trail to ascertain whether the mode of taking evidence in a court martial was consistent with the mode in use in our other criminal courts, who had a critical eye on the whole proceeding., but who concluded his letter with the emphatic words " I would not have considered five minutes to have made up my mind." This clergyman was confirmed in his statement as to the proceedings of the court martial by the Queen's Deputy Advocate, who said With reference to the court-martial in Kandy, having officiated as deputy judge-advocate on the four first trials, I am enab:eal to speak of the manner in which the proceedings in them were conducted. The evidence in each was fully taken down; the prisoners had every opportunity given them of cross-examining the witnesses, and had every facility afforded them of making their defence. The trials usually occupied several hours, and no unseemly haste was manifested in getting through them. In one of the cases, that against Porang Appoo, the active part he was known to have taken in the rebellion was not proved, and I intimated my opinion that it would he proper to have such evidence. But the court did not consider it necessary under the other circumstances established." lie would now return to Lord Torrington's part in the transactions. It appeared that Mr. Selby. having met Mr. Smith, the proctor, he (Mr. Smith) had told him that he believed this man was not guilty. Now it was a curious fact that Mr. Smith had been in court during the trial, and might have been the man's counsel, and have. cross-examined the witnesses on his behalf, if he hail had the ordinary instincts of a gentle man of common humanity, for he (Mr. Smith) had said that he knew the language. (hear, hear.) But he (Mr. Smith) would not do it without the maney. Ile stood by, end alth ni..th a judicial murder was to be perpetrated lie never attempted to do anything to aver it. Mr. GLADSTONE said Mr. Smith had not been the person who refused to defend the man, because the money wax nut forthcoming. Mr. Serjt.MURPIIY had not said that Mr. Smith was after their arrival they were again le. _. arms in coniequence of large bodies of men appeerine in the district of Dambool. These parties were afterwards ascertained to have been reinforcements for the pretender's army which had approached Matelle in ignorance of the place being in poseession of the troop.. "On the- morning of the 29th of July," 'eye Colonel Drought. " I received in formation of au intended attack upon Koraegalle. I was only able to send • very small recce, as the garrison of Kandy was already far Von weak. I organised, on the 29th, a body of pensioners, and was thus enabled to spare the re mainder of the Rides, about 30 men. This force reached Kornegille, accompanied by Mr. Sines, justice of the peace, on the morning of the :oth, but the place had been at tacked half au hour before, and considerable mischief done. On entering, the troop., who were about the town, were opposed and tired on by the rebel., 4,000 in num ber; these were eventually driven off with sonic loss in killed and wounded, and thus the Treasury, in which was the sum of was preserved. The attack was renewed on Aug. I by the rebel., who, after firing several times at the troops, retreated in disorder. About the same time I re ceived intelligence that the high roads from Trincomalee through Dambool to Kornegalle and Matelle had been strongly barricaded with fell, d trees, and the teppale or letter carriers were stopped for several days. So urgent' was the necessity of attempting at any risk to communicate with Trincomalee, that I ilreted myself of the gallant offer of two gentlemen, Mr. Adams and Mr. J. Bunter, to at tempt to reach that post on horseback, with the general's ilespatches for the commandant, which they succeeded in doing, notwithstanding many difficulties. This was ;after the dispersion of the pretentler'e force at Warriapolle. Previous to his advance on Matelle and to the attack on Warriapolle, the pretender had been proclaimed king at Dambool, by the priest of the great temple there, and had received the homage of some head men and of several thousand armed natives, as appears by the reeords of the Supreme Court on the trial of the rebel, in Me After the dispersion of the pretender's army, he was still attended by a c livable hand of armed followers, who gradually deserted him on account of the incessant harassing pursuits they experienced from the military; he himself escaped till the 22nd of September, when he was surprised and captured by a party of the Ceylon Rifles. At the very continencement of the rebellion the villages were abandoned by their iuhabitant e and large band* of armed and unarmed marauders, taking advantage of the state of the country, commenced a stem of plunder, which was car ried on to an almost incredible extent, neighbours and even relation, plundering each other, until checked by the punish ments of some of the marauders by courts martial and the government, by sequedration, taking under their own pro teetion property lett without uu owner." It was then Colonel Braybrooke expressed the opinion that court-martials were the hest and most valuable means of bringing offenders to immediate punielunent. Colonel Bray hrooke said that the proclamation of martial law had an effect upon the Kandians which appeared almost magical, and he went on to state that the continuance of martial law had enabled the pursuit to be persevered in, and had been the cause of the pretender himself being apprehended, without which tranquillity could not have been restored to the country. It was stated, moreover, by Mr. Selby, the Queen's advocate, in answer to a question put to him 1. the person'. Mr. Wilmer had been the person who refused, and the others had stood by. They had folded their arms, and shown the greatest indifference as to the fate of the MAR. What had occurred afterwards? Mr. Selby had met Sir Anthony Oliphant, who had made his statement of the matter, but had said at the same time that his health was so delicate, that his nervous systan would be shaken were he to go to the governor and be questioned on the subject. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Baillie) had said that he did nut value the words of Sir A. Olipliant a pin ; but he (Mr. Murphy) begged to say that he valued them. (Hear, hear.) Stress had been laid on them. They had been reiterated and reiterated until they had been denied by Col. Drought and Lord Torrington ' and then hon. gentle men dil not value them a pin. (•• Hear, hear," and minis terial cheers.) The conduct of Sir A. Oliphant had not been of the most creditahle character, and very different to that of any chief justice in England. Thou who disap pnived of the acts of Lord Torrington might make them black enough, but they could not make his conduct worse than had been that of Sir A. Oliphant. A man who had acted as he had done, ought not to he any longer chief justice. (Hear, hear.) The evidence lie (Mr. Murphy) held fully proved that Lord Torrington had exercised a wise discrimination, and had done nothing but what was necessary in the peculiar emergency—a re bellion in the colony. Another of the charges preferred against Lord 'Torrington was the confiscations. There was, however, scarcely an instance of confiscation which could be proved. That there had been a pardamation of confisca tion—a measure to terrify an ignorant people into obeili enee—was quite true, but as to there being say actual con fiscation was quite another question. It appeared that whyn the inhabitants intended to go to war, they abandoned their houses and went into the jungle. The soldiers therefore had been employed in protecting the property, and that which was of a perishable nature hail been disposed of, and the proceeds handed over to the proprietors afar the subsidence of tit: disturbances in cases where they had nut been participators in the rebellion. Theme was no proof whatever in the evidence that the go vernor had ever acted except with the best of mo tive+, and with a view to tho protection of property. Alluding to " the parties who had fomented this matter against Lord Torrington, Mr. Murphy diverged into a col lateral history, in which Mr. Elliott, the editor of the Colombo 03serrer,Mr. J. Selby, brother of the Queen's advocate, and the notorious Ticker" , anal, were the chief agents, which, he alleged, was connected with a cabal against the governor. As regarded the resignation of L ird Torrington he had felt compelled to take that step in consequence of his pri vate letters having been tampered with, and hi s p os iti on having been rendered such that, retaining the spirit of a gentleman, he could no longer hold office. As soon US the fact of his lordship's resignation had become known, be had received an address limn the planter+, wishing him to INJ• main, because they conceived that his presence was essen tial to the wellbeing of the colony. It had been his (Mr. Murphy's) duty to make this statement of facts, and, having done so, he now begged to ask in what position Lord Torrington had been placed ? Ile (Lord Torrington) had been sent out to governs a colony and had found himself placed in a situation of great difficulty and emergency. Lord Torriugton applied to persons of experience who were hint he oum by the hon. member opposite, whether hi" was satisfied in his own mind as to the guilt of the parties tried at the court martial, that he was not so satisfied, and had not adopted that belief, without sending to Mr. Staples, the judge of the district, who knew the characters of the witnesses, and could till whether they were credible or not. It might be recollected by the members of the committee that a con siderable portion of the work of coffee-growing is carried on by coolies, and that the coolies were a very timid race of men, and it appeared from the evidence that the terror of martial law among them was so great that they fled to the coast from their employment. Such were the state ments of Col. Drought, and he thought the house would agree with him if, when comparing the opinions of the two gentlemen together, Mr. Selby 1)4 ing quietly at Co lombo during all the operations, and Col. Drought being in command of the military, and actively engaged in tho most competent to give counsel ; did everything that a reasonable mar. could do to preserve the colony. He (Mr. Sergeant Murphy) said if that night the vote in that house told Lord Torrington that, having acted to the best of his ability and with the soundest motives, having a legisla tive council to guide him, and having in tho cud secured peace to the colony, and laid the tbundation of that pros perity which seemed now to be coming on the colony; he said that if Lord Torrington, under these dreams was to be visited by animulversiou, the sooner th e y got of their colonial government, the better. lle said that when they placed a man thousands of miles away, who was called upon to net in cases of great emergency, when there were 60,000 risen in rebellion, and arms were in their hands ; when there were 60,000 stand of arms in the colony —(" oh, oh ")—he could prove it he raid if, under these circumstances, established scene of action, he attached greater weight to the opinion.. of the latter. The hon. mover, by the terms of his motion, censured Lord Torrington for nut leaning to the advice of Mr. Selby; but he (Mr. Serjeant Murphy) would ask the hon. gentleman whether there were not other members of the council to whose advice and opinions Lord Toiringthn was quite as much bound to listen as to the counsels of Mr. Selby. One of them was the majur•general commanding the whole of the troops in C...y10n, one who had served long there, and well understood the colony, the natives, and the mode of dealing with them—who, in a wonl, was familiar with everything relating to Ceylon ; and was it t o be Laid that Lard Torriuxton should have listened to the remon s gentleman --' they were to pronounce' against him they _ a fearful precedent ; they told every governor to fold his arms, to sit in u private chamber like the chamber of Dionysitts, listening to his subordinates whispering away his character; they told hint to fear what might he done by the House of Commons ; and then, when war and bloodshed came, they would alter their resolution, and the hun. mem ber for Montrose would bring an impeachment against him for squandering the public money. if the conduct of a common magistrate were impugned the presumption was that he had ►c;ed rightly, cud he did not think that a British House of Commons could act differently in the case of a colonial governor, and be trusted that the " be - • stranees of a gt..._...uan whose habits were alien to everything that could render him competent to form a true judg ment on the point, and that he should have acted against the opinion of all the rest of the council, including the major -general in command, and who might be reasonably assumed to be better able to afford proper advice. It had been alleged that the courts-martial had been conducted by subaltern ofacer4, and th it young and inexperienced OlikeTS were placed in command, and trusted to administer mili tary law ; but if members would be so good as to look at the papers they would find that the officers composing those courts-martin] were min against whose names were 42 7° o nservice, 38 se rv i ce , an d 26 ' same award would -- given to him as was given by the ancient Romans in times of public danger, 11C quid detri mama respublica caplet. (Chetis.) Mr. K. SEYMER hoped he should not bo supposed to bo actuated by party feeling in the course he thought it neces sary to take on the present occasion. They were asked to say yes or no to the resolutions of the iron. gentleman, which he regarded as involving a question of the utmost importance—the prosperity, and perhaps the existence, of our colonial empire. lie thought Lord Torrington in some respects an injured man; but what could be expected .o from o a young nobl e man of no previous CY" whose . . lualitieutions for a colonial - earl s.— year.' servic e . The facts were as follows :—Commandant at Kandy, $5 years' ser vice; youngest officer on courts '- mart?:d wa s 26. COM• Mostiaat at Danabool was Litut.-Colonel Cochrane, with 42 pin' service ; Ids younzest ofileer was at least 25 yearn Kap. Commandant of Korgenalle Major Lsyard, 16 years' service, and precious service in the Ito) Al Navy ; youngest officer in his 22nd year. Commandant of Matefie was Capt. Watson, 26 years' serried i his youngest Ofiker iS{ his 23rd periencs, ior ae. governorship wero his baring been a railway directo r , an d !using built a model cow shed ? The real culprit was the noble earl at the bead of the colonial-office. The rebellion seemed to be a trumpery 'natter, which had been magnified into importance by the severities that attended its suppression. lle hilt bound, after full consideration of the circumstanees, to give hi, Medial support to the resolutions. Earl UROSVENOR thought that Lord Torrington had . _ .....---..—. Geeteral Smelt had not any high confidence; for, though f year. Captain Watson is an Ale, of an osidenble cape-' been animal treated, and vindicated the eon luet l a a had of standing, in point of van, in Ceylon, it appeared that i Alice, and has Lined 22 y ear . i a the c0 1 0n) . .. 12 yearn of punned from the necessity of the Cone. he was a person who had administered a sort of clerkship's I which period he was employed in the surveyor.: tenets' and Mr. RO EBUCK said that there were man y 'intim li ake in the commissariat department, and that, in some- commissioner of roads department. Ile under% 'ands the stances which would have inclined him to at e an int queue, his military abilities had fallen into desuetude. Chicane character perfectly, and few Europeans are per- favourable view of the policy of Lord Torrington. li e mus t When this contingent was sent up to Kandy Colonel Bray sonally acquainted with so many headman and native/. The confeis that there were circumstances connect,il with Lord mils Torrington's wppointment to the admini.tration of the tr,_ brooko presented himself to General Smelt, and officer who was must particularly eng igml upon these ci. asked to be appointed. It seemed that it would martial was Col. Lushinzton, a Companion of the Bath, w ;to vernment of Ceylon that would have induced him, or any have bees very Convenient for Colonel Bravhrooke had seen many yearn' service in India, and was perfectly con- impartial person, to he rather suspicious. It appeared that to have received this appointment of Commandant of I versant with the habits of the native.. It had been said also the noble lord had been appointed, not because he WWI b , st Kandy; for in connezion with it was an additional pension that there was proof of considerable crueltK, and that when st..itcd to the situation, but beCaIISC there were ci reum . of 3001. a year, and a house to reside in ; and, moreover , it these courts martial mite to deal with t e offendersthey atarces which made it best suit the noble lord to appqiut turned out that Colonel Itraybrooke possessed a coffee estate found 23 persons guilty of high treason, who were left for him. (Hear, hear.) Having, therefore, come to the c oo . 'of Kandy. So that Colonel Bray- execution. But the truth was the other wa • fur it was sideratkm of the circumstances in this state of mind, sod " - -' ' • ' " with these feelings, ho had carefully gone through ail the evidence viNch had been laid before the house, and wh;cl i he considered to be hi,thly important, not only as regarded this accusation .but the conduct of all future governor., and the general inana.,•emout of our colonies and he had feit it his duty , to express his pinion oarese:rvedly in sup . port of the noble lord's administration. (Cheers.) In the first place, be considered that a great mistake I r a been committed in calling Ceylon a colony at all. A colony it was not in the proper sense of the word. (Hear, h e ., r A colony, in his conception of the term, was a coantry peopled by emigrants descended from the British race, or going directly from our shores and carrying with them tie habits, the manners, the laws, and the constitution of tl;4 country. But this was an outlying possession of Jim:Levi, densely peopled with an old race, or rather of various re., having fixed habits, language, and religion to which tle y were attached, and which were very different fmni To a colony the laws and emistitutional forms r,j the mother country were applicable; but if in th,, case of an outlying possession they stuck only the incidents of constitutional forms, they woo' by that pedantic adherence to the form lose the su'e stance. kliear, hear.) The test, then, of the goveriow,t of such a possession lay in the result—and that was securit... (Hear, hear.) The problem, therefore, was to obtain security at the least possible expense of pain and Plat:6l;4 to the community over which it was maintained. If th y applied that rule to a constitutional government, it w.. ,!,f be the most mischievous thing that could be ion. eeived, although at the time beneficial results follow. A beneficent despotism would be the nest cruel infliction that England could receive; but in a country like Ilinclostan or Ceyhm, the only government that t'. could hope to succeed was an enlightened (Hear, hear.) He would not blink the questi on at all. An enlightened despotism in a country like Ceylon was the only government that at present they mild hope to abstain. (Cheers.) Having alluded to the circumstances under which the country was acquired, Mr. Roebuck described the difficulties which beset Lord Torrington when he assumed the government of the island, which 11, represented as a hotbed of insubordination, disconnat, and intrigue. Had the governor been weak :and vacillating, the flam , s of discontent would have serest from one end of the island to the other ; but because !... had been bold, active, and completely successful in hi, po. Hey, his accusers turned round and said this was no insure ration—it was all a farce. (Hear, hear.) The hon. tren• tleman brought a series of accusations against Lord 1••1• riugton for the especial purpose—a constitutional one, r,.1 doubt—of founding thereon a charge against the coloni secretary for giving his sanction and approbation to t!, noble lord's conduct. He struck the servant tine, to be able to attack the head. If he ens. blished his first proposition, the second necessarily followed. If Lord Torrington's policy was wrong, the government deserved censure. f here was tit escape from that. He (Mr. Roebuck) would therefore begin with the beginning, and justify Lord Torrington. He way not there as the advocate or representative of Lord Tor. rington, but as a legislator of this country, to defend what he believed to be a true policy with regard to a certain el .•5 of our pOSKIJiOIIS, and not to he misled or led awtj by the name of a colony. (Hear.) Auy one who had patience • read through the three blue books would •• ; that, from btu - inning to cud, there was a of insubordination, discontent, intrigue, and falsity of ! pr. pose towards Sir E. Tennent and Lord Torrington. (if .- hear.) A word as to the way in which this matter It t been treated by the government. When they found officer attacked, they ought to have said they approv,.l - disapproved of his conduct; they ought to have fore. ' their determination, stated it to the house, and maintai, it. They had not done so. (Hear, hear.) If they I. formed a determination, when they manse down to the and saw the gatheriang of members en the opposit benches, they had vacillated in their purpose, instead , t 1 standing by their officer, snil maintaining in the house that he was right. Great mischief would result from this pro. ceeding. They could not expect to have hold, firm, awl politic governors if they were to be treated thus. (Hear, hear.) And because ho believed that Lord Torrington. merely as a governor, had not been properly defended and upheld, he, as a representative of this country, would a.,i,t in ntaiutaining what he believed to be right. (lb•ar. hear.) When any one had read through that stranz: medley of bitter things which had been laid benne the house, that most distasteful production of pride awl pestilent curiosity, he would ask if that was the way in which governors and colonies were to be treated? bear.) Ile found in the evidence a woman's letter, dragg... , l out of the pocket of a gentleman to whom it had been ad . . dressed, to be laid before the 648 members of that boos and perhaps to gratify the prurient curiosity of people ea of doors. (Hear, hoar.) Hut the present proposi• tion of the hon. member (Mr. Willie) was to cast aside all that idle inquiry. The house had now nothing to du with accusations made between Lord Torrington, Sir E. 'l'enuunt, and Mr. ‘Vodebousc ; they had only to deal with the resolutions, which were the real pith of the matter It was no question whether Lord Tor rington had acted wisely or foolishly in trusting to any gentleman whom he thought a gentleman; they had only to du with him as a governor. Was it true that Ix: had acted cruelly, that he hail unnecessarily pro. claimed martial law—that he had unnecessarily continue" it, and, during its continuance, bail been cruel in the ale plicatiou of punishment, and impr o perly l oose i n th e m n os of conducting thu trials? The phrase, martial law, as here applied, was an improper one. What was meant by it was the abrogation of all law, and placing in its stead the force of the sword, the respoudble person being the head of the government. It had nothing whatever to do with martial law us defined by the Mutiny Act: it was th.: abrogation of all law and the creation of another pow. r, namely, the will of the ruler, he being responsible for whit he did under this unbounded despotism. Was the dac,e'r such as to justify the noble lord in abrogating the law aied substituting this despotism? The legislatse made onli• nances ; the executive and the governor had cer tain large but yet responsible powers; those of th.• governor beiuggeute large enough for the declaration of martial law. the Queen's advocate had declared that the governor hail the power, and was responsible fur its exer cise • the question WWI, was he justified in using it? Fir , s look at the aothority on.whicie ho did it; he applied to his executive council, and every one of them coincided in propriety of the step. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Wodeitiuse himself acknowledged that, though he was mm-present on the 29th of July, he by his subsequent conduct, and almost immediately after, sanctioned it, and gave Ins opinion to the governor that the proclamation of martial law was absolutely called for, most judicious, and warranted by the circumstances. General Smelt was also present, and coincided in it. On the filst, every member of the executive council was present; and every one of th. nt coincided in the necessity of proclaiming martial law, de clared it was absolutely essential, and that, considering the past history of Ceylon, it was the wisest and mode of proceeding. (liear.) It was said that Lord Torrington had gone to the colony wholly unprepared with the requisite knowledge for its government; but, when placed in the most difficult position in which any governor, experienced or inexperienced, could be placed, the course he pursued was appisned by every one oh' his advisers, those possessing knowledge of fita law, as well as a peculiar knowledge of the country. (Hear, bear.) Hence it could not lie said that this was 411 unwise course; and success did nut show that it hail Iseu unnecessary. The hon. memhers for Montrose and the West !tiding objected to a large military expeuiliture in the colonies. Ilad there been a great body of troops in Cclt..u, a very admirable looking court-martial might have Ilea constituted at any time. But when it was known that the civil power in such cases was composed eat two or the..: members, how could they constitute a good tribunal lir the purpose? lied we listeried to the lawyers which an , I sent forth, we should not now have been the posses.), our Indian empire. Lawyers were nut IltateMlCß. A laugh.) Ile knew that the arrow, glancing 1.... struck him from whom it came; but the to of the statement was not thereby impugned. who were lawyers and lawyer. only w e re not to most wise and efficient statesmen; and those who I. their opinion for a guide must do so with reservation care. Ile judged the lawyers of Ceylon by their ceedu and one circumstance connected with these trials lie not pass over; he was sure such a circumstance could have occurred in England. When the old prie..t. C. whom such solicitude was expressed, was told th..t might call any witnesses and have any counsel he p:. seeing his most natural defender in court, lie intimated wish that he should plead his cause; but the answer Is ceived ' legal ,ved from this __al oracle wax a. significant motion of hand, saying in effect—" I must h ave t h e money fir, (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Itochur . tc) would rather have t. tided his life to the judgment of th e m ilit ar y . tribunal th to the advocacy of that proctor. lie maintained that th , who sat in judgment on thr.t occasion formed a most edic . o l and safe tribunal. No or. pretended that those conviet by the law courts, b e f ore mart i a l l aw was B er l an d were not properly convicted ; and there was u' more evidence agai nst t h em t h an aga i nst t h o - e victed by the inditary tribunals. It was said th. judge had recommended them to mercy. and that he bon high character; Vint in a country like that, however stme might " " • • • - -- • • at be the jueige's opinion as - to punishment, he we do wisely to he ep that opinion to himself. But it was said th. more than 'cruelty, contempt for the people, had Is., shown ; they had shot & priest, and shot him in his roe Now he (Hr. Roebuck) knew something of such ciptintre... and " robes" meant a sort of yellow vest, which, it taken off, the wearer would be left naked. (Laughter.) s' that if the priestly garments were taken off the wean r would have been left in nature's garments. (Laughter) Ho would go a step further and say, when a priest w taken in rebellion and convicted of treason, he (Mr. It • buck) would have found it his duty to execute hint priest. (Hear, hear.) But it was idle to introdue.. • that debate such accusations. Horne Tooke, in rep' , Y to " Junius," awned that, had Crowwell met the King in battle, he would have been justified in putting his dagger into him ; and added, that if found it his duty to take the field against the king, h• would rather plunge his dagger into him than anothk: The statement was a wise and a proper one, and pertly? jugilablo ; and in the same way it was right to 'meow Wm ids* as priests, that the populace might am the T r i