The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-26 00:00:00

THE BURMESE WAR.

Sir 11. WILLOUGHBY rose to move for an addreu for
copies or extracts of communications which may have
passed in reference to hostilities in Ave, and in re-
lation to the annexation of any portion of the
Burmah territory to the British empire in the cut.
Ile wished to direct attention to a few circumstances con-
nected with the Burmese war u they were mad, to appear
in the documents now on the table or the house, which
brought the accounts down to March, 16.52. lie should not
have pressed the matter if he had not felt tin.. the whole
question of peace and war in India ought to be corsidered by
parliament. In other cues of wars there was in parliament
a respons:hle minister to go to, but in India there was no
check on the exercise of that power of going 0. war. It
was a question whether this war might not have been
avoided, and it was also a question whether the British
government intended to carry it on. There had been
too much of going to war in India, and the contequences, as
in the case of Afghanistan, had been serious to the finances
of India. In 182 i there was a war with Burmah, which
bad damaged the finances of ludia to the exteet of ten or
twelve millions; and with great diffieutty wu got back a
million from the King of Ara, which was paid in very
doubtful money, and certainly not much was gained on the
whole. Ile wished to call attention to the origin of the pre-
sent war in Burmah. It arose in 18.51 in consequence of
wrong done to the owners of two ships, and he belayed so
far there was a good foundation for it. But he should like
to ask the noble lord (.1. Rowell) wbeth.a there was any
&fluke policy laid down to induce the Governor-General to
take the course he did. The policy began on a demand for
10,000 rupees, or under 1,0001., and it changed into the an-
nexation of the greater part of the Burmese empire. With
regard to the military operations he did not believe
that at home we had sufficient data to form an opinion
upon them ; but it was clear there had been a great vacilla-
tion in policy. Ile thought the war had not originated with
the Gdvernor•General, but in the hasty acts of Commodore
Lambert in seising the Burmese ship, after which diploma-
tic negotiations were at as end.

Sir C. WOOD did not think that the house would be of
opinion that this was a coneenient opportunity for discuss-
i the latter part of the hon. gentleman's observations as
to the responsibility on the question of peace and war in
India. After a careful review of the instructions sent nut
by his (Sir C. Wood's) predecessor, he must say that he
entirely concurred in them. But the house would be in •
better condition to discuss this question when the papers
were before them, which they would be in three or four
dal.. HUME said that if the right hon. gentleman con-
sented to grant the papers, he (Mr. Hume) agreed that the
present was not a convenient occasion for the discussion.
But as regarded the praise and sanction given to this war, be
was of so uifferent an opinion on the subject, that ho
could not let tho opportunity pass without expressing it.
As far as his impression went the war might have been
avoided, and Commodore Lambert was the cause of it. He
considered that the Court of Directors ought not to be dis-
pensed with, but they were not made acquainted with what
was going on, and in fact the whole of India was governed
by two individuals, the chairman sad deputy, and they
wero not allowed to divulge the facts which came to their
knowledge.
Sir J. W. HOGG said he thought it would have been
better to have postponed all discussion on this subject till
the papers had been laid before the house. Ile cone 2ived
that this was not a proper time for discussing the constitu-
tion of the Board of Directors, or the powers of the
Board of Control. At present the discussiocs seemed
to be limited to the reason for the Burmese war,
which was the last question he expected would have been
then discussed. He might have expected various questions
as to the mode and manner of carrying on that war ; but to
hear the justice of the war questioned by members who had
had an opportunity of reading the papers already on the
table of the house, aroused his astonishment. It had been
said that the propriety of this war had been censured by
three governments—by the government at which the noble
lord (Lord John Hassell) was at the head, by the govern-
ment presided over by Lord Derby, and by the present go-
vernment. But with all respect to those three governments,
there was an authority which was greater than any of them,
and that was the authority of that illustrious man (the Helmet
Wellington), who was now no more. A memorandum,
written three weeks before his death, was read in the House
of Lords last night, in which the noble duke, after having
had all the papers before him, said, " It appears to me that
this war could not have been avoided, that the operations
I fixed upon were judicious, and that they have been carried
into execution with great gallantry by the officers and by
the troops." After such testimony, it appeared useless for
him to occupy the house further on the subject. He was
happy to say, with regard to Lord Dalhousie, that they were
not to be deprived of his valuable services. The Court of
Directors had asked him to prolong his term of office beyond
the usual term of five years ; and though private reasons
might have induced him not to consent, he had consented;
and he hoped we should long continue to have the services
of that distinguished man.
The subject then dropped.

Sir N. JOLLIFFE then called attention to the quality of
the bread supplied to her Majesty's forces in Great Britain,
under the government contracts. The quality of bread
used by all classes was now of a much superior description
to what it was formerly, but owing to the low price at
which these contracts were taken, the bread was of an in-
ferior quality, and unless the soldiers were willing to pay
more to the contractors, the bread supplied to them would
be of a very interior quality.
Mr. 8. HERBERT said the subject bad been under the
' consideration of the committee on the ordnance and army
estimates, who had decided that in future the quality of
bread should be that called " seconds." The system in
Ireland was the commissariat, in England the ordnance con-
tract system, and in the Guards the system of regimental
contracts. The commissariat was the most expensive ; and
the regimental that which gave most satisfaction to the men
individualli; but in the cam of a disturbance or war
woes,' cress down, because then they would require an
amount of organisation which it would not supply. When
all the regiment were together it was cheap, but where two
or three companies were detached to a village, they would
raise the pries of provisions, and their stoppages might be
increased by a penn a day. The raensiiirariat system bad
been abandoned in Ireland; but Vie regimental contracts
would continue for sir months longer, after which it would
be necessary to decide oa the system to be permanently
adopted. It was of course of great importance that the
quality of the bread should be Food. The sort used had
been brown bread, but there existed • prejudice—an un-
founded one, by the bye—in favour of white.