The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

:.,. ~ :. .~ 644 Vrottatings xn V arliantent. HOUSE OF LORDS-HONDAT. THE MUTINY IN INDIA. The Earl of ELLENBoaunarr called the attention of the house to the disaffection which had broken out among the native regiments of the Bengal army, and inquired what measures the Government were about to take to crush the revolt and punish the rebels. He remarked at much length upon the gravity of the pending crisis, and pointed out that to the delay of the Government of Calcutta much must ba attributed. On the 22nd January a fire broke out in the canton ments of Calcutta—a thing almost unheard of. From that period indications of ciissausfaction in the native army were more or less apparent. The cause was perfectly well known. On the 25th of February the 19th Regiment broke out in revolt, yet it was not until the 31st of March that the regiment was dis banded. On the oth of March the Indian Govern ment sent to Rangoon for H.M.'s 84th Regiment; and so deluded were the authorities with respect to the extent of the mutinous disposition of the native army and the effect of the disbanding of the 19th Regiment, that within a few days of that event it was considered advisable, and was actually under discussion by the governor in council, whether the 84th should not be sent back to Rangoon, although now it appears they have thought it necessary to send for three other English regiments to protect the capital of British India. Indications of a had spirit appeared at Meerut, Umballah, Agra, Allahabad, and, in short, at all the great stations. No one, therefore, could doubt that the outbreak must have been the result of combination and one general feel ing animating the whole. At Meerut the conduct of the authorities was different from that of Sir H. Lawrence in Oude On the 30th May, we find that Sir Henry Lawrence, a very distinguished and a very decided officer, had reason to expect an outrage on the part of the 7th Oude Infantry, and immediately moved up, at the fall of night, two native regiments, together with the 82nd Queen's Regiment and a battery of artillery This force came upon the mutineers in the night, disarmed them, and made them prisoners. He took the initiative, and put down the mutiny. But what was the case at Meerut? There the mutineers were allowed to take the initiative. They rose in revolt at six o'clock in the evening, and, according to the accounts we have received, it was not until nightfall that her Majesty's Carbineers were enabled to move down upon then:. If General Glossop, at Arcult, had not moved his dragoons down upon Vellore with more promptitude, the mutiny which broke out there would have spread throughout the whole presidency and produced effects and dangers similar to those winch we have in the present instance to deplore. How happens it that with a Queen's regiment of infantry, another of cavalry, and an overpowering force of horse and foot artillery, the mutineers were enabled to escape from Meerut to Delhi, a match of between thirty and forty miles P It is said that the name of the officer in command at Meerut is Hewitt, an unknlwit man—at least, so far as I can find, he has never served with troops in the field. Yet this unknown and inexperienced man is placed in corn mend of one of the most important military stations in In But what was the position of the commander-in chief in India?— My 1.-r.le, he is opposed by two enemies far more power ful than the mutineers, of which we in this ectintry are in the habit of taking no account, but enemies infinitely more dangerous and fatal than any army, however numerous— the climate at this season of the year and the almost absolute want of carriage. It is almost impossible for General Anson to move hie troops down from their canton ments without means of carriage transport, and carriages are, I believe unobtainable ; his only resource is to press men from tile hills. lu this way he may possibly bring down 2,000 or 3900 men to carry burdens, but to obtain the necessary carriages and animals fur moving an army a distance of eighty or a hundred mites I believe to be im possible. Then there is the season, which, as I have said, is the most severe of the whole year. This is just the con clusion of the hot weather. During the prevalence of the hot winds we know that Europeans cannot venture abroad in the sun. No European soldier is able to do his ord.nary duties in the sun. Your lordships will recollect that on one occasion when the late Sir C. Napier was compelled to go into the field during the hot season, forty-five Europeans were struck down in one da), and of the whole forty-five he was the only one that survived the stroke. This is the most serious danger we have to meet. As to Delhi, it might be easily captured without assault, by simply seizing its only canal and thus cutting off the supply of water. But General Anson, from the abolition of the police battalions formed by him (Lord Ellenborough) for the purpose of en abling Government in case of necessity to move all the troops from any particular spot, would now find himself seriously hampered : When the invasion of the Sikhs took place General Hardinge was enabled at once to move on three battalions from their cantonments to the scene of action, which he could not else have moved without leaving the places from which they were drawn unprotected. But General Anson has no each police battalions to fail back upon. He Tilt Pnt SS, JULY 4, 1857. must either leave en imposing force to protect the exten• sive cantonments at Meerut, Umbellah, anti other places, or, as the force moves away from Urnballah, their canton• ments will be burned down behind them. And we know that no European troops can stand in the full blaze of an Indian sun without shelter. This is with me a cause of great apprehension, and no doubt it occasions serious con sideration in the minds of the Government. It is not only at Meetut and Delhi, but in the Punjaub at Feroze• pre, and in every part of Bengal, that this disposition to mutiny exists. I regret to say that if fear at the present moment we cannot with safety rely on the fidelity of any of the regular regiments of the Bengal army. Upon the irregular force I trust we can rely. I hope, too, we may depend upon the artillery ; though one battery, it appears, has been seduced, or threatened into joining the mutineers. I know we may rely implicitly on the Ghooikas. I live we may also depend upon the fidelity of the native princes whose territories border upon Delhi. The Government, we find, have drawn European troops to Bengal, very prudently and properly, from other presidencies ; but in doing so, they have left Madras and Bombay almost without the protection of a European force. We know not what may be the result if the danger should spread ; but I trust that the Government will look at it in its full extent. I trust they will remember that we are really in the position of being compelled to raise every effort the country can make to maintain if not to recover that great empire of the East. But how does the case stand? We have since the war been reducing the army and the navy, and have now to meet this formidable difficulty and pro vide for the safety of the country with a very reduced peace establishment. We have in the Chinese waters all that disposable naval force which ought to be left at home for the security of our own shores even in the midst of pro found peace. But the whole of the naval force available has been despatched to Ciiina to carry on the contest between Sir John Bownng and Commissioner Yeh. Besides that, six battalions have been withdrawn from India for the same purpose, and I believe it will be found that those six battalions are totally inadequate to effect the objects of the Government. The noble earl then remarked upon the not im probable effect this outbreak in India might have upon the policy of Persia, called upon the Go vernment while affording India every support not to neglect the safety of England, and concluded by a•;ki;tg what measures her Majesty's Government intended to adopt for the purpose of reinforcing our army in India, and placing us at home in that state of security we occupied during the last great war. Lord GRANVILLE replied that, before the arrival of the recent news, 10,000 men, consisting of four fresh regiments and reinforcements for regiments already serving in India, had been placed under orders for embarkation. Since that news arrived, four more regiments had received the same orders, making in all about 14,000 men. With regard to the position of affairs in India, the Government had every reason to be satisfied with the energy and determination displayed by the lieutenant governors of the districts in which attempts at mutiny had occurred, while, with regard to the Governor General himself, letters had been received from him in which, while discuss ing the events which had taken place with all due gravity, be spoke so cheerfully of the ultimate result as to inspire the Government with the greatest eon fidence. As to the home measures of protection, it would be a manifest impropriety on his part to go into detail as to any measures the Government might think it advisable to introduce for strengthening the military forces of the country at home. " The noble earl may depend upon it that they will take the course which they think right, and that in no spirit of exaggerated alarm ; hut with due consideration of all the circumstances, they will take such steps as may appear to them necessary under the circum stances." Lord BROUGHAM asked the state of the Indian funds, Lira HARDWICKE suggested that the troops sl , ould be sent out overland, and the subject shortly dropped. LORD PLUNKET AND THE " Lord DONOUGHMORE called the attention of the house to a breach of privilege committed, as ho alleged, on Lord Plunkrt by an article in the Ex a miner newspaper. The noble lord read the article at length. Lord GRANVILLE could not regard the article in the same light. He thought the house would not gain by perrelual collisions with the press. Lord DERBY thought the article in question most coarse and scandalous : The auth, r of the article in question showed not only an entice absence of gentlemanly teeling, but gross igno ranee of the history of those of whom he had written. He said that the late Lord Plunket owed everything to the Liberal party. That was simply untrue, for he owed every thing to his own great powers and abilities ; and he could only say that he wished that no one of their lordships would ever be less deserving of the honour of a coronet than Lord Plunket. But it was assumed that, because that noble lord received favours from a Government of the same politics as that now in office, and because a peerage w as conferred upon him by them, not only he. but his son after him, was bound to sacrifice hie conscience and vote with the successors of a Government which thirty years before gave a peerage to his father, under the penalty of being accused of ingratitude and of forsaking all the obli gations of party. It showed no small ignorance of party obligations, and was pushing political gratitude to the very utmost, to say that, because the father got a peerage from a Government representing certain political opinions, his son was to be the slave of all Governments professing the same principles. lie could not recommend Lord Donoughmore to press his motion. Lord LANSDOWNE thought the step proposed absurd. If their lordships were to take notice of every article of this kind, they would be occupied from Monde) , till Saturday in every week. Lord BROUGHAM was bound to say that a more harmless, inoffensive, and meritorious individual than the right rev. prelate in question he never met with. It was said that his noble father owed much to the Liberal party, but it was nothing to whet the Liberal party owed to him, who was one of the most distin guished ornaments of his time and country. The motion was ultimately withdrawn. OF REFUGE. Lord RAVENSWORTH moved for certain papers re ferring to the construction of the harbours of refuge at Jersey, Alderney, and Dover : His object was to direct the attention of the country to these works before any further sum was expended upon them, because he had been assured that they were utterly useless, and that the money already expended upon them had been absolutely thrown away. The motion was agreed to. Some other business was then despatched, and their lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—MoNonv. INDIAN REVOLT. On the order for going into committee of supply, Mr. DISRAF.LI rose to put a question to the Go verpment relative to the present state of our Indian empire. After glancing at the war with Russia, the hostilities with Persia, and our subsisting hostile relations with the Chinese, he observed that we found, after the great exertions made in these wars, that our extensive Indian empire was endangered, not by the machinations of apparent external foes, but by an internal enemy ; that Delhi was actually in the possession of our own rebellious native troops. He asked for some information as to the causes of this state of things, and what was intended to be done in this emergency : The information that has reached us within the last twenty-four hours communicates, perhaps, the most im portant events that certainly have occurred in my public life, and I should think in the public life of most of those who are present. Whatever may be the various views and emotions which the members of this house or the country generally may feel at this intelligence, I am quite sure there is one predominant sentiment to which all others, however important, must he subordinate, arid that is a determination to support the Sovereign and her Majesty's Government in all those measures which so grave and critical an emergency may require. lam quite ante that the spirit of this country is so high, that its resources are so great, that there is nothing they are not prepared to endure, nothing they are not prepared to expend and exert in order to maintain that empire which has been the boast of this country for so long past, and which is one of the greatest sources of our power, wealth, and authority. The right hon. gentleman remarked that this calamity had not been of a sudden nature, and that he desired to know not only what in the opinion of the Government had been the main cause of these calamitous events, but to know from her Majesty's Ministers whether they were forewarned : I wish to know from her Majesty's Ministers whether, in their opinion, that cause is politics' or religious ; whether it has originated in the mal•adutiuistration of our affairs, or in some burst of fanaticism, which ought perhaps to have been foreseen, even if it could not have been prevented. I wish to know from her Majesty's Ministers what has been the general nature of the com munications which they have received from the highest authorities, military and civil, in India on these subjects. I wish to know whether it be true that, months ago, the highest military authority in India warned her Majesty's Ministers of the unsatisfactory state of our army in India. I wish to know whether there have been placed before her Majesty's Ministers statements and complaints that our army in India was under•otficered. I wish to knew whether it has been represented to her Majesty's Ministers that the Indian Government had been in the habit of employing the r .gitnental officers in civil and diplomatic services without substituting men of experience and rank in their respective regiments; whether that has exercised any injurious influence on the spirit and discipline of the troops. I wish to know from her Majesty's Ministers whether the civil and military authorities of India have been in accord with the information which they have given, and the representations which they have mode; whether the highest civil authority in India has not agreed with the highest military authority in the policy which he recommended and wished to enforce. I would ask even if the Governer•General of India has not resigned the high office which he held. These are the questions which, I think, under the circumstances, her Majesty's Govern- ment should not shrink from meeting. I have endea voured not to enter into any controversial matters, for if it be necessary that the government of India should be brought under the ccnsideration of this house, no doubt a fitting opportunity for it will be offered. I have confined myself to asking the questions which, I believe, anxiously