The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-13 00:00:00

our possession in February, the one being that we knew
the terms which we meant to propose to China; the other,

hat we were aware of the amount of force which the

Cabinet had decided on sending to that country. The
terms embraced a demand for explanation, and the ratifi-
cation of the treaty which Lord Elgin had made ; but did
not include any demand for compensation in money over and

above that which the Chinese had already promised to
pay. The amount of forco which the Cabinet decided on

sending out was 10,000 men, in case the whole force con •
sisted of Europeans, but in the event of any small portion
of it being composed of native Indian troops, its number
were to be increased, so as to render it equal in point
of efficiency to an army of 10,000 Europeans. That
was the knowledge which the Government possessed in
February. Ido not know whether the house was also in
possession of the terms that had been proposed to Chins,

but'it did know the intentions of the Government as to the
number of men to be sent. Now, just see what the inten-
tions of the Government are worth as to proceedings of this
nature at the other end of the world. The terms we in-
tended to send to China were essentially altered for reasons
of policy which appeared conclusive to our representative
in China. I do not cast any blame upon that gentleman,
but the fact illustrates the feebleness and inefficiency of
the control which the Cabinet in I,ondon can exercise over
transactions of this kind. Then, as to the amount of force.
The amount of the forces under orders for China, which
have left the ports of England and India for that country,
is nearly twice the amount upon which the Cabinet had
decided. Under these circumstances, the hon. baronet
can easily judge how impossible it is for the Cabinet at
home to form a clear judgment of the likelihood of a war,
and of its scale of cost, bid the committee must recollect
that this mode of providing the cost of these wars
is quite new to our annals. We have unfortunately
had a variety of these wars, but they have been paid
for almost entirely through the medium of the finance of
the East India Company, the demands made upon this
house at the commencement of those wars being very insig-
nificant, and repaid when the wars were concluded. The
first of these wars was in 1840, and the sum voted by this
house in that year was £173,000. In 1841 it only grew to
£400,000. In 1842 it increased to nearly £1,100,000, and
in 1843 a further sum of £821,000. was voted, and even
then a large balance remained, a great part of which was
not disposed of until the year after. Now, we are in a dif-
ferent state of circumstances. A large portion of the expen-
diture is to be defrayed through the medium of the East
India Government ; but in consequence of the change in the
Government of the East Indies it has become our duty to
ask the house to provide at once the means to meet, as far
as we can estimate it, the whole expenditure that will be
incurred, either directly by ourselves or indirectly by the
Indian Government. The committee must remember that in
respect of a good deal of this expenditure it is in advance.
The hon. baronet has given notice of a motion to ask what
advances have already been made on account of the war in
China. Ido not apprehend that it will be possible to an-
swer that motion, because the great bulk of the expenditure
is paid either through the medium of the East India Go-
vernment, of whose account we are not in possession, or
through the medium of the treasury chest in China. The
payments made from the treasury chest in China are made
in this way :—The persons having charge of the chest, see-
ing that a great demand upon it is likely to occur, will not
wait for the occurrence of that demand, but take steps be-
forehand to place themselves in funds to meet it. They
make a demand, not formally, for the special purposes of
the Chinese war, but to meet whatever lawful and proper de-
mand may be made upon the chest. These sums are to a
great extent sent in advance; some portion is paid through
bills, negotiated there, and sent home by the officers of
the Treasury chest; but it is their duty not to be de-
pendent upon the negotiation of bills, as that might cause
embarrassment, if not loss to the country. With this they
must go on as long as the war is likely to continue, and
therefore one of the incidents of a war of this nature is,
that a large portion of the draughts made upon this
country must be paid in advance, and probably when
the war in China shall terminate, especially if it terminates
rapidly or suddenly, the Treasury chest may have a large
amount of funds which will be unnecessary, and which win
be returned home. I mention these things to show how
impossible it is even now to frame what is called an esti-
mate, but at a time when Parliament is about to separate it
is our duty to make the best conjectural statement we can,
and to ask as large a sum as will make us independent until
the close of the campaign—that is, practically until the
close of the financial year. The hon. baronet will see how
different are the circumstances now from what they were
on former occasions. He says, however, that in my finan-
cial statement I proposed £500,000 as a vote of credit for
the war in China. He is inaccurate upon that point. I
referred to the vote we had already taken in the course of
the session before the 10th of February, for the financial
year, which had not then expired ; I referred to the votes
included in the estimates for the present year ; and I said
also, as to the extraordinary expenditure of the expedition,
we ask for £500,000, in order to defray the cost of an ex-
pedition that was to be in the first instance a peaceful re-
monstrance. That was clearly a declaration that I was not
asking for a sum of money that would suffice to defray the
emit of ft War in CM++o financial your. Ido
hesitate to say it would have been wrong to make any
such request. The hon. baronet addresses the question to
me, but he knows as well as I do that it is not the business
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to frame military esti-
mates. They are framed by the Cabinet, and lam willing
to take my share of responsibility for them. But in the
month of February, having. six months of the Parlia-
mentary session before us, having sent out certain terms,
having directed an expedition, and having the power of
applying to Parliament for the charges of the war, if a war
should break out, Parliament being as good a judge as our-
selves of the probability of such an event, it would have
been a breach of our duty if wo had applied to Parliament
to defray the expenditure of a war that had not com-
menced, that might not commence, and of the chance
of which Parliament could judge as well as we could.
The demand we made was very large in some respects,
larger than is stated by my right hon. friend, because of some
items of expenditure that had been incurred by this country
which did not appear as expenditure for the Chinese expedi-
tion, and yet were entirely due to it. I will mention one in-
stance. In the course of last autumn the Admiralty made
application to the Treasury to sanction the formation of
certain contracts for gunboats which were not included in
the estimates of last session. The Treasury acceded, on the
ground that a demand had been made on the fleet for gun-
boats with a view to service in China, and the cost of build-
ing them, although not appearing as set down to the expe-
dition, was really a part of its charge. I hope that the vote
we ask will cover all charges during the financial year, but
after what has occurred, I do not think the Government
can with prudence make itself responsible for what may be
the expenditure of such a war. The scene is so distant, the
circumstances vary so from time to time, that it must be left
to others on the spot to take decisions which otherwise
would be taken with the immediate authority of the Go-
vernment. If, unhappily, it should be prolonged beyond the
present year, the charge for the second year will in all like-
lihood be greater—(hear, hear)—at all events, it will be as
great as that we now ask for the first year of the war. (Hear,
hear.) And what is the lesson we ought, to draw from that
circumstance ? It is very desirable that we should, if possi-
ble, draw some lesson from it, and I confess the lesson I
draw is this—that it is impossible to check proceedings of
this kind growing out of transactions such as the deplorable
events at the, mouth of the Peiho, when once they begin.
(Hear.) What you should really look to is the mode of con-
ducting your ordinary communications with such distant
Powers, and the responsibility under which they are
conducted. It is an extremly dangerous system of policy
that sends forth treaties to be exchanged at the sword
point and at the cannon's mouth. (Hear, hear.) By that
system of policy you necessarily place in the hands of the
remote agents of your power an amount of discretion and
responsibility which I think too great for men to bear, and
certainly much greater than you would ever consent to
place in the hands of your Cabinet at home. If lam to
look for the immediate cause of the unhappy outbreak, I
might say I find it in the instructions of Lord Malmesbury
to Mr. Bruce—(" oh, oh I")—hear me out—instructions
which desired him to proceed to the Peiho for the purpose
of exchanging the treaties attended by a sufficient naval
force ; but—and this the sequel of my sentence—in my
opinion, it would be most unjust to place the responsibility
on Lord Malmesbury, because, in sending these instruc-
tions—although his was the immediate responsibility,
being at the Foreign-office at the time—l don't think
he acted on grounds peculiar to himself or the Admini-
stration of which he was a member, but rather in confor-
mity with what we may say had been more or less very un-
fortunately the recent tradition of this country with regard
to the conduct of such transactions. I don't wish, there-
fore, to be misunderstood as if in naming Lord Malmesbury
I was in the slightest degree charging upon him peculiar
responsibility. I cannot venture to hold out any expecta-
tions, now that we have reason to believe the war has ac-
tually broken out, with regard to the limits or amount of
the demands that may be made on the house, or the period
which those hostilities happily may be brought to a termi-
nation. I trust and pray that may be at an early period.
I believe there is no alternative but to submit, however re-
luctantly, to this large demand, which we have submitted
at the earliest period at which we could place it before
u yob u.
I trust we shall listen to the lesson which is tang
h y
these transactions, by considering the manner iu we
s _
in
have been accustomed to transact business a this kind n
grave and serious loss, as at the outbreak inerious ;
distant quarters of the globe, and under circumstances sptaenihcoes of
trust the country will take that matter into s c.onside-
we may be less hkely to
ration, and that for the future
incur the repetition of such a deplorable calaratty • (Hear.)
Sir J. PAK INGTON said they
had a right to further
explanations as to the policy of this war,
in respect to which
the statements made by Ministers were serious and unsatis,
factory. They were told the soleobject of the Government
was to demand a ratification of the treaty, and he thought
it would turn out to'be ruinous to force upon China Euro-
peen diplomacY, and unfortunately, when they ought to have
their naval and military resources concentrated at ;{home,
they were scattered and divided at an enormous distance
from home. The expense attending this unhappy struggle
nearly six millions of money.
was They ought to have
heard a little more of this enormous expenditure when the
Anances of the year was explained, and when the budget
was submitted, (Rear, hear.) The question they had t•