The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 18,1857.

sudden impulse affecting the feelings and sentiments of
the native soldiery ; but whatever the causes may be, they
do not appear to be ccmmon to the troops of the presi•
dencies of Bombay and Madras.
Mr. BarrllE assumed as a fact that money had
been expended in the Persian war without the con-
sent of Parliament. He then considered what was
the real object of the war, which he contended was
the dismissal of the Sadr Azim, the Persian Minister,
all other demands having been conceded at Con-
stantinople by Farouk Khan, and this object had
not been attained.
Mr. DANDY SEYMOUR and Mr. WILLOUORDY sup-
ported the Government.
Sir W. WILLIAMS said, on the authority of his
Eastern experience, the Asiatic everywhere weighed
the military power of Russia with the naval power
of Eng!and, and talked almost continually of the
possibility of Russia invading India :
That idea was also inculcated on the minds of the people
by every Russian agent who visited their territory, and it
was said by those emissaries that Russia wonld establish
herself in India step by step, and that one of those steps
would be the capture of Herat.

From these premises the gallant general came
rapidly to the conclusion that the best way to check
Russia was to attack the only intervening power be-
tween her and our frontier.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL declared that ho never before
heard of so short a cut in logic as this. lie should
rather believe that under such circumstances it was
our interest to support and strengthen Persia than
to weaken her. The questions raised by Mr. Roebuck
were two—first, as to the control of the house over
grants of money; and, secondly, the policy of the
Persian war. With regard to the first, the house
having been in a great measure a consenting party,
and although ho did not think the Government
altogether without blame, it did not amount to so
grave a charge as to render it necessary for the
house to come to so strong a resolution. As to the
second question, he believed that as good a conven-
tion might have been had as we had got without a
war, upon the basis of the concessions made by
Farouk Khan at Constantinople, or by the means of
temperate diplomatic discussions.
Mr. WALPOLE said it was clear from the papers
that the Government had actually incurred expenses
on account of this war long before any announce-
ment was made to Parliament, which ought to have
been called together as soon as any expenditure had
been resolved upon. This was a constitutional
question of the greatest magnitude, and the house
bad a right to ask from the Government some more
satisfactory information than it had hitherto
received :

The only justification of the conduct of the Govern-
ment which I have heard consisted of a statement by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the effect that in former
Indian wars no announcement was made to Parliament,
and that in the late war with Persia the Government lid-
lowed these precedents. But i defy the Chancellor of the
Exchequer or any other member of the Government to
point out to me a time when that course was adopted in
the case of a war which was not, in fact, an Indian war,
for which the instructions proceeded from the Home Go-
vernment, and of which the proclamation, when made by
the Governor General in Calcutta, was expressly stated to
be midi pursuant to directions from EnOand. Why, the
very agreement which you said had been violated was not
entered into by the Indian Government with Persia, but
by an accredited agent of the mother country ; and it may
be asserted, indeed, that every circumstance connected
with the late war takes it out of that class of cases in
which Indian wars have been undertaken for Indian put,
poses, by Indian authorities, and at Indian expense.
Mr. V. &Arm insisted upon the right of the Crown
to declare war without informing Parliamentjustified
the necessity of the late war and the policy of the
Government towards Persia, and denied that the
persistence of the Government in demanding of
Fetouk Khan, when at Constantinople, the dismissal
by the Shah of his Prime Minister, Sadr A zim, was the
proximate cause of the war. Ferouk Khan was not
then in possession of fnll powers to treat.

Mr. GLADSTONE, who was received with loud
cheers, protested against the extravagant language
used by the members of the Government as regarded
the intentions of ltussia

It is not wise, I say, to proclaim that the object of
Russia is the destruction of our Indian empire by encroach•
ment through Atfghanistan. If I have the least under-
standing of right government, I think that the power of
England is so great. and it is so firmly based, that we have
nothing to fear so long as we exercise that power with
moderation and justice. But if, on the other hand, we
encourage extravagant theories—if we raise imaginary
dangers, those dangers, from being imaginary, may become
real, and may assume gigantic dimensions; and then,
indeed, the difficulties and dangers so created may be such
es may exhaust the almost inexhaustible resources of this
,untry.
Arriving, at the question of the policy of the Persian
war, the right lion. gentleman distinctly proved by
extracts from the blue-book that in Dec., 1856,
not only was the dismissal of Sadr Azim included in
the British ultimatum, but that on the 16th Decem-
ber, 1856, Lord Clarendon wrote to Lord Stratford

directing him to " insist " upon the dismissal of Sadr
A zim, and that the negotiations then pending were
admittedly broken off by Lord Stratford, who wrote,
saying that his functions were virtually brought to a
close by the receipt of the instructions of the 10th of
December, and continued :
This conclusion was the more evident, as the latest
newspapers received from India had published the Go-
vernor-General's formal declaratlon of hostilities against
Persia, issued on the Ist of November, under instructions
from her Majesty's Government.
As to the constitutional question of the case, the
authority of Parliament would be greatly curtailed if
whatever could be done by a Minister by means of
an Indian army and an Indian Executive might be
begun, continued, and ended, without the assent of
Parliament; and he denied that the Persian war
ought to be exempt from the control of Parliament,
because the war was not in any sense an Indian war.
No man could deny but that it was one of that group
of questions surrounding the position of Russia in
the East. Adverting, however, to the fact that the
circumstances referred to in the first resolution
occurred prior to the dissolution, he was willing to
waive pressing home that resolution provided he had
a security that the liberties and privileges of that
house were guaranteed against the formidable
dangers involved in the precedent.

Lord PAIMERSTON declared that the Constitution
vested in the Crown the prerogative and discretion
of war and peace, with this reserve, that when the
advisers of the Crown felt it to be their duty to
counsel war or peace they were bound to take the
earliest opportunity of communicating the fact to
Parliament; and this had been done in the present
case. With regard to the present case the noble
lord said, " I freely admit that it does involve a ques-
tion which Parliament is well entitled to have ex-
plained to them, and which, if left open to any
interpretation that might be put upon it, would
perhaps be turned into a precedent which might be
attended with injurious consequences in future,"
and confessed that the only llche of the Govern-
ment, "if ladle it was," consisted in their not
summoning Parliament sometime between the middle
of January, after the Christmas holidays, and the
:3rd of February, the day on which the house met.
The noble lord then ridiculed the indignation of Mr.
Roebuck, who appeared to have brooded over the
matter from February to July, and concluded by a
justification of our Persian policy in every respect.

Mr. DisnAELI said we hail at least derived one
advantage from the discussion, in receiving the
mature and solemn opinion of the Government on
the cause of the present condition of our Indian
empire:—

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has informed us that
India at the present moment is suffering only from a
momentary and unexpected impulse arising from supersti-
tious causes. This insurrection, which extends from the
Punjaub to Calcutta, is, according to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the creation of merely a sudden impulse.
I can hardly believe that such a grave consequence has
arisen from so accidental a cause. I should hardly believe
that that is the cause, especially in respect to our Indian
army, which by its education and interests, and by
every motive which can influence the loyalty of men,
ow,lit to be moat devoted to our Government. I
cannot believe that it should be suddenly found
in a state of insurrection on account of the cause
alleged by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I must
be permitted to say that I believe the cause of the present
state of India is much graver and deeper than appears to
he conceived by her Majesty's Ministers. I believe the
present state of India has been occasioned by long years
of misgovernment ; and if it be the opinion of her
Majesty's Ministers that the condition of India is attribut-
able to such temporary and unexpected causes as were
alleged by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I should have
much less confidence than I would willingly entertain with
regard to the remedial measures they have proposed, and
the further measures which I trust they are prepared to
submit to Parliament. (Hear, hear.)

'fhe right hon. gentleman then, referring to the
resolutions before the house, maintained that, though
expressed in strong language, they embodied a con-
stitutional principle. Yet Mr. Roebuck had been
vituperated and charged with taking an un-English
course :

The first Lord of the Treasury, speaking of the Shall of
Persia, said he had a habit of boasting in his Durbar. Well,
there are other great men who boast in places which we were
once fain to hope were almost as august as the Durbar cf a
I'ersian king of kings--(laugliter)—bitt if the policy the noble
lord recommends were pursued I think the influence of Par-
liament would be so much diminished that we might, per-
haps, have to veil our glories before the superior authority
of a Persian sovereign. The noble lord, having been cc-
cased of being a most popular Minister, yields to the soft im.
peachment, and in the Persian style says, " True it is, I
am niost popular ( laughter, followed by cheers from the
Ministerial side) ; true it is that I possess the confidence
of the country, but what is the cause? (Cheers from
the Ministerial side.) I know why I possess the confi-
dence of the country. It is," said the noble lord to the
hon. and learned member for Sheffield, "in consequence of
•

your resolutions. Now, what were the resolutions of the
hon. and learned member for Sheffield? I remember
several memorable occasions on which the hon. and learned
gentleman, unsupported by any personal following in this
house, has proposed resolutions. I need scarcely remind
the house of what was, perhaps, the most memorable
occasion on which the hon. and learned gentleman brought
forward a resolution. Tt was a resolution for an inquiry
into the state of the English army before the walls of
Sebastopol. Was that an WI. English resolution? Was it
an unconstitutional resolution? Why, the noble lord,
who was one of the guilty Ministers, yielded to the vote
when that resolution was carried.

But to return to the question before the house. The
house, it must be admitted, had not been treated
with candour in these Persian transactions; but he
could not get over the fact that, on the meeting of
Parliament, there was an announcement of the war
with Persia in her Majesty's Speech ; that arm the occa-
sion when this question ought to have been mooted,
and he could not agree to a resolution which affirmed
that the war had been declared, prosecuted, end
concluded without any information being communi-
cated to Parliament. He should, therefore, vote for
going into committee of supply.
Upon a division the motion for going into com-
mittee was carried (thereby negativing Mr. Roe-
buck's resolution) by 352 to 38.
The house then went into committee of supply,
but the cbairman was immediately ordered to report
progress, and the remaining business having been
disposed of, the house adjourned at half-past one
o'clock.