The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-03 00:00:00

• stroyed our empire in India. There was not on our side of the
Sutlej any force that could in a short time be brought to check
so large an army. It must be admitted that both the Native
and the British army did their duty on that hard-fought field,
aid the names of many would go down to posterity on the bright
tablet of fame, but wh le the eye brightened for success, it was
dimmed by the recollection of those who had fallen ; and he must
' mention in terms of regret the death of Sale, and the
gal,aet young Somerset, who had behaved with the hereditary
spirit of his race. He would conclude by expressing his firm
belief that all the forces, both officers and men, well deserve&
the mo•t cordial thanks of the House.
Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS considered that the victory
was a happy cii cumstance, and one extremely gratifying to the
country. It was also consolatory to consider that the
tremendo,ts sacrifices which had been made of so many eminent
men did riot result from any aggressive attacks on the part of the
Government. He should prove before he sat down that the
conduct of Sir Henry Hardinge was perfectly consistent with
the strictest rules of tactical and stratagetical science. There
was no doubt that his Gallant Friend (Sir H. Hardinge) had
been placed in a very difficult position in these engagements,
becau-e he had to contend with superior numbers, but he suc-
ceeded in vanquishing them, for his mind was well stored with
all those acquirements which such a position required. He
had served in the Peninsula under the Duke of Wellington,
amt was, therefore, well fitted for the position to which he was
appointed. A man, placed in a similar pnsition, could not
have acted otherwise. The Honourable Baronet then
proceeded to describe the order of the engagements.
The ordinary establishment of a regiment in India was 1,000
men. Now the 62d Regiment went into action with only
700 men ; and when they came within range of the guns of the
enemy, in less than ten minutes half the regiment, wish seven:
teen out of twenty-one officers, were shot down, and the regi-
ment therefore literally broken. Now, he should say, that the
reserve troops in the rear should not have been so distant, and
that greater care, and more caution should have been observed
in the details of these arrangements. The glorious acts anti
successes of that day, ought to obliterate for ever the remem-
brance of any temporary misfortune that might. have befallen
their arms. He would mo t c•rdially give his entire concur-
rence to tne propreed awe of thanks, which he hoped would
be carried with the highest acclamation, a 4 a small acknow-
ledgement of those brilliant succes.es which had been obtained
at the sacrifice of so many gallant lives.
Lord EBRINGTON regretted that, on the present occa-
sion, the Right Hon, mover, and the Hon seconder of the
motion, had altogether omitted all mention of the policy which
the Governor-General had pursued previously to his recent
distinguished successes. He should, however, most cordially
concur in the proposed vote of thanks. The chief purpose for
which he had risen was to ask a question of the Right Hon.
the secretary-at-War, or in his absence, of any other member
of the Government, whether any measures had been taken to
acquaint the relations of those privates and non-commissioned
officers who had been killed in India, with the extent of their
loss? Ile bad had painful experience of the anxiety with
which the news from India was looked forward to by the re-
lations of the officers engaged in the recent conflicts, and being
aware that similar anxious feelings must exist in the breasts
of the relations of the private soldiers, he had been induced to
inquire whether means could not be adopted at once to allay
all anxiety on the subject.
Lora JOCELYN stated that the usual custom after a battle
was to have the tunics of the privates and non-commissioned
officers who had been killed carefully recorded, and the lists
prepared and kept at the Horse Guards ; by referring to which
place every intormation would be afforded.
Lord EIIRINGTUN wished to know whether a list of the
kilted would not be published in the Gazette, or in some other
public paper ?
Sir ROBERT PEEL observed that :it had never been the
custom to publish a printed list of the privates and non-com-
missioned officers who had fallen in battle.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL believed that such a course was not
customary. lie did not see, however, any objection to such a
course being adopted. It would, in his opinion, be a great
consolation to the survivors of the private soldiers to have their
names publicly recorded. The names of the officers were
published, and why not those of the privates? The same feel-
ing =ions the relations must naturally prevail. It would be
unnecessary for him to say a word after the admirat,le address
of the Right Hon. Baronet. This was one of the great deeds
which they had to acknowledge, and in doing honour to the
brave men who were participators in the gallant act, they were
doing honour to themselves. He was afraid that these deeds
were but the commencing struggles of a destructive war,
and therefore it would be a great encouragement to the men
who were engaged in these actions, and also to those who had
the conducting of those difficult affairs, when they found that
the Parliament of England to k every available means of
encouraging them in the arduous career which they had to
pursue. .

Mr AI ANGLES would most cordially concur in the pro-
posed vote of thanks. He would do so with the greater cheer-
t ulness, from the successes not having beers terminated with a
tsar of aggression or extermination.
Mr. WYNN was most anxious that the names of the
whole of the British troops should be published. He had al-
ways thought that they had been deficient in that respect. He
had the honour, after the baths of Waterloo, when it was
proposed to erect a monument to commemorate
that event, to suggest that the name of every
man who had fallen in that glorious victory should be re-
corded. The suggestion was received with universal appro-
bation. Irrespective of modern times, they had the precedent
of antiquity for such a course. In ancient days, after the battle
of Maranthon, the conflict of Thermopylae, the names of the
conquerors, the dead as well as the living, were recorded in
marble, and engraved on enduring brass. The victories which
the trrops had olyained in India were an honourable testimo-
nial to the general conduct of the British troops, and of the
attachment of the native troops to their coadjutors; and he
should support the vote of thanks with the greatest cordiality.
Dr. BOWRING did not exactly approve of the manner in
which the Right lion. Baronet had spoken of the exclusive
military policy of the Governor-General. Our political, civil,
and commercial interests in India were intimately connected,
and he earnestly wished that the principle of encouraging one
more than another should not be carried to so great an extent.
Sir ROBERT PE was understood to say that he had no
intention that that principle should be carried to so great an

extent.
After a few words from Sir C. COLEBROOKE and Sir

HOWARD DOUGLAS,
Sir DE LACY EVANS thought the names of the officers
who had fallen should be recorded in some manner, as should
seem most desirable to the House. On reading the resolution
proposed by the Right Hon. Baronet, he found that the names
of the distinguished officers who had fallen would not appear in
the proceedings of the House. He had prepared a resolution
to be attached to the original motion, which provided for that
omission, and he would now submit it. It was to the following
effect :—" That this House does also highly approve and ac-
knowledge the distinguished and energetic exertions displayed
by the late lamented and gallant officers, General Sir Robert
Sale, Major-General Sir John M'Caskill, and the other officers,
non-commis-ioned officers, and privates, who received their
deaths, gloriously failing in these honourable actions." He
conceived it would be a mark of respect to the memory of the
gallant men who had fallen in these actions, that their names
should be transmitted throughout the army in the only public
record of the tran,actions which would appear. If his motion
should be seconded, he would then appeal to the House, but if
it should not, be seconded, he trusted that some means should be
devised in which the gallant deaths of these brave men might be
publicly recorded.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that he had himself prepared a
resolution similar in effect to that which had been proposed by
the Hon. and Gallant Officer, but on referring to former occa-
sions he had found that no example of a precedent for such a
resolution could be found. In the cases of Trafalgar and
Waterloo there existed no such precedent. He thought that it
wag highly desirable that the usual course should be followed.
It would be a matter of deep regret for the survivors of those
who had fallen on former occasions, that their names hail not
been recorded in a similar manner. He hoped, therefore,
the Gallant Officer for these reasons would riot press his reso••

lotion.
Lord EBRINGTON merely wished to observe that it was
desirable for a list containing the names of the noncommis-
sioned officers and privates to be prepared as soon as possible.
Sir DE LACY EVANS having withdrawn his resolution,
The resolutions, which will be found in another column, after
a few words from Mr. HumE and Mr. WYNN, were put from
the chair and carried with acclamation.
CUSTOMS AND CORN IMPORTATION ACT.

Upon the order of the day for the House going into Cem.
mittee on the Customs and Corn Importation Act being read,
Mr. VILLIERS rose, and stated that it was not his wish
to oppose the progress of the present Bill. It was his intention
to have proposed his amendment at a later period of the session,
and had it not been for various statements which he had heard
in the course of the last debate, he would have done so. The
House was per fectly aware of the mode in which her Majesty's
Government intended to give effect to the measure which it
had introduced. The motion of which he had given notice had
reference to the mode only. Her Majesty's Ministers have
acknowledged the policy of allowing a perfect free trade in all
articles of provision, but they have postponed the full
application of that principle until the Ist of
February, 1849. He believed that those advantages
might be extended to the community immediately without
danger or inconvenience.—( Hear, hear.) He had moved the
present amendment in consistency with the practice of his
having done so for a number of years past. It was an amend-
ment on the proposition of the Government for a total and im-
mediate repeal of the duties on the importation of foreign corn.
There had been ever since the corn-laws had been enacted a
large party who had complained of their injustice, and who
have been anxious to have those laws repealed. Hut the ques-
tion has always been, could these laws be removed immediately
without some danger to the country ? It had been urged that
there would be much alarm caused to those who had invested
their capital on the soil, and who might be alarmed by the con-
sequences of free trade ; it was fearedthat they might withdraw
their capital, and the community would be injured by a
deficient supply. These considerations had great weight
with him at first, and had he not had the views of many
practical people on the subject, he would not have been the
instrument of proposing an immediate abolition of the corn-
laws. In the sear 1843, when he first brought forward his
motion, he quoted from a publication, in which it was stated,
that if the legislature should abolish these protective laws, it
would be to the interest of the farmer that that abolition should
be immediate. He was fortified in making the present propo-
sition of an immediate repeal by a person of high rauk. He
alluded to Lord Spencer, who stated that if the law was at
once abolished the effect would be that wheat would rise in
price both in this country and abroad, and he did not think
an immediate abolition would cause any injury to the farmers.
The Earls of Ducie and Radnor had also expressed their
opinion that it was the interest of the farmer that the repeal should
be immediate, for if the laws were not immediately repealed
the landed proprietors would still maintain the hope that those
laws might not be finally carried into effect ; and while this
state of uncertainty existed with regard to the home
producer, the foreign grower would see a time when
the trade in corn would be free ; he would make his prepara-
tions according, invest his capital and prepare large supplies
for exportation into this country, while the grower would not
he prepared for them.—( Hear, hear.) The present Govern-
ment had most wisely considered it expedient that the trade in
corn should be free, and if there has been any subject upon
which there has been unity of opinion, it has been, that if the
corn-laws should be repealed, that that repeal should
be total and immediate. Members on the Opposition
side have volunteered their opinion on the subject. Very
particular friends of the existing corn-laws had lost no
time, immediately after the meeting of Parliament to proclaim
that an immediate abolition would be to the interest of the
farmer. A Noble Duke in the Upper House, who was inti-
mately acquainted with the interest of the farmer, had lost no
time in volunteering his opinion, in favor of a total and imme-
diate repeal. The Hon. Member for Somersetshire (Mr.
Miles) whose pride and whose boast it was that he was the
farmer's friend although there was no notice on the book—no-
thing had been said upon the question by Members on that side
of the House, yet all would remember the manner in which he
declared his desire of the farmers that the repeal should be im-
mediate. Now he (Mr. Miles) bad lived among them, and
when he made that statement, he asked Hon. Members
who sat behind hire, if it was not true ; they gave hint
an unanimous cheer. There was no county which had
watched with more jealousy the progress of free trade than
that of Lincoln ; but three months since its Honourable
Member declared in favour of an immediate repeal, and
he (Mr. Villiers) had been expecting him to bring
forward some measure' in accordance with his opinions.
From every quarter, then, they had heard expres-
sions in favour of its immediate repeal. He did not see why
any person should object to the motion which he proposed.
What was the opinion of her Majesty's Government? He