The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-18 00:00:00

BURMESE WAR.

Mr. COBDEN, in rising to ask the President of the
Board of Control when and by whom the papers
respecting the Burmese war were prepared to be
laid before Parliament, and who was responsible for
the selection of the extracts said, on looking over
the documents, he found that the more important
of them were not given fully, but merely in
extracts. It was for the interest of the public as well

as for the sake of the character of the parties engaged
in the transactions that the whole of the papers should
be laid before the house, unless they would prove in-
jurious to the public service, would supply information
to the enemy, or were calculated to give offence to any
foreign power. Neither of those objections applied to
the Burmese war, and therefore he thought the house
was not properly treated in having been presented with
only garbled extracts. This process of garbling the docu-
ments relating to the Affghanistan war was performed
by high public men now living, and the house could not
be too early or too careful 'in preventing similar occur-
rences in future.

Mr. BAILLIE would not discuss the policy of cutting
out extracts from public documents, but there was no
doubt that in the case of the Affghan papers, they were
so much garbled that they conveyed an entirely dif-
ferent impression to what the writers intended. He
complained that no notice had been given of this ques-
tion to the late President of the Board of Control,
who was, no doubt, responsible for the state of the
papers which had been produced in the Burmese case.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME said that many papers were unjustifiably
kept back in the Affghan case, and he thought it was
the duty of the house to take care that similar suppres-
sions of truth did not take place in future. He sug-
gested that the house should appoint a committee to in-
quire into all cases where public documents, ordered to
be produced, had been garbled by the Government or
their subordinates.

Sir C. WOOD said the papers were prepared by the
Board of Control, and the President of that Board was
responsible for them. They were, however, prepared
by the late Board, and therefore no blame could attach
to him. There could be no doubt, however, that the
President of the Board of Control was responsible for
these papers.

Mr: 60BDEN had no wish to throw blame any-
where, but he wanted to clear up the doubt as to where
the responsibility rested.
Mr. BRIGHT said he had seen a private letter from
Burmah, stating that the British troops there were in a
most wretched condition. One regiment, it was said,
had lost 400 men from the badness of the climate, while
the other regiments were reduced to perfect skeletons.
(Hears hear.) Now he wanted to know what they were
about in this matter that so many valuable lives were
to be sacrificed ; and he wished to know if the Govern-
ment had received any information on the subject ?
(Hear, hear.)
Sir C. WOOD was sorry to say that considerable
mortality had prevailed amongst the troops. but he was
not prepared with any information on the subject.
Mr. ILACKErr wished to know whether it was the
intention to lay a correct statement of the profit and loss
of these newly-acquired territories before the house ?
Lord J. RUSSELL was not prepared to answer the
question without notice.
SOAP DUTIES.

Mr. A. PELLATT wished to take that opportunity
of asking a question respecting the soap duties. There
were many large stocks on hand which had paid a duty
of 141. 14s. per ton, and which would be entitled to
drawback on exportation. Now, he wished to know
whether, in the event of such soap being re-imported, it
would be admitted at the same duty as foreign soap,
viz., Bd. a cwt.?
Mr. WILSON replied in the negative, and said steps
would be taken by the Excise to prevent such a pro-
ceeding.
OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS.
Mr. S. WORTLEY said the Common Law Commis-
,
kiwi had reported in favour of allowing a man to make

an affirmation when he entertained conscientious objec-
tions to the taking of an oath, and he wished to know
whether Government intended this Session to bring in a
bill to put that recommendation in force ?
Lord J. RUSSELL was unable to answer the ques-
tion at present, but perhaps the hon. and learned gentle-
man would repeat the question next week.
METROPOLITAN POLICE.
Lord D. STUART said he had moved for certain re-
turns connected with the Metropolitan Police, and of
the number of orders that had been given for opening
letters at the Post-office, but they were not yet forth-
coming. How was this ?
Lord PALMERSTON said the first return was ready,
so far as the Metropolitan Police was concerned, but the
order included the City Police, and as those returns had
not yet been received, the return could not be made up.

METROPOLITAN GRAVEYARDS.
• Mr. C. BERKELEY said he perceived by the Ga-
zette that no less than 106 of the Metropolitan grave-
yards had been closed by order of the Horne-office, and
he wished, therefore, to ask the noble lord at tile head
of this department if he could state how many new
burial-grounds had been provided to rep:ace those m
were already closed ? (Hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON said his honourable friend had
correctly stated the number of grave-yards which had
be.en closed by order in council. There were other
grave-yards now under examination, and probably the
rest of them would be closed at no distant period.
(Hear, hear.) The act of last year gave the Secretary
of State power to close graveyards in accordance
with the requirements of the Public Health Act,
but the act of Parliament did not vest in the
Secretary of State any power or authority to
provide new graveyards for those which were closed.
He happened, however, to know that several of the
parishes were making arrangements for new places of
interment ; and he also knew that, besides the
great cemetery at Woking, there was a bill
now • passing through Parliament, which had
passed this house, and was now under discussion in
the House of Lords, for providing another cemetery
within a certain distance of the metropolis. (Hear.)
ADVERTISEMENT DUTY.
Mr. M. GIBSON wished to know what business it
was proposed to take on Monday, in the event of the
committee on the succession duty being disposed of to-
night ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, in
the event of the Succession Duty Bill being got through
to-night, or early on Monday evening, he should move
immediately afterwards resolutions relating to receipt
and other stamps ; and when they were disposed of he
should propose to take the resolutions relating to the
duty on advertisements and the stamp upon newspapers,
but these latter would not be taken after ten o'clock.
(Hear, hear.)
The motion that the house, at its rising, do adjourn
until Monday was then agreed to.