The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

THE INDIAN RESOLUTIONS.

Lord J. RUSSELL said, it had been suggested to
him that the amendment of which he had given notice
upon the 6th resolution, that the members of the Coun-
cil "should be appointed by her Majesty, and, with the
exception of the Secretary of State, should hold their
offices during good behaviour," woull raise two ques-
tions,—first, that of appointment ; and secondly, that
of tenure. As he only wished to raise a simple and direct
question with regard to the mode of appointing the
Council he would put his amendment in this form :
That it is expedient that the members of Council
should he appointed by her Majesty," and it would
then raise a question, whether all the members of Coun-
cil should be appointed by her Majesty or not.

The house went into cammittee, Mr. FITZROY in the
chair.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said,
the first resolution he had to submit to the committee
embodied a principle which he believed would be recog-
oiled by a vast majority of hon. members. It was—

" That as the territories under the governakent of the
East India Company are by law to remain under such
government only until Parliament shall otherwise provide,
this house is of opinion that it is expedient that the trans-
for of such government to the Crown should now take place
in order that the direct superintendence of the whole em-
pire may be placed under one executive authority."
He need not remind the committee that by the act of
1853, the authority of the East India Company was can-
tinned under the condition referred to in the resolutior,
and he bad endeavoured to frame the resolution in such
a manner as clearly to express its object. The_ itiht hon.
gentleman then moved the resolution.
Mr. ROSS MANGLES said he had to perform a very
uphill and almost hopeless task in attempting to oppose
the resolutions which he could not but believe had the
concurrence of the majority of the house. But he should
not the less, perhaps the more, consider it his duty to state,
to the bast of his ability, the character of that company
with which he had been so long connected as a servant and
as a member of the court of directors. He had only spoken
on the general question on one occasion, and then at a late
hour, being unwisely provoked to do so by a speech of his
right hon. friend the member for Radnor, who had spoken
with much less than his usual philosophy, and if he might
say so without offence, with less than his usual equity and
candour, not giving a fair representation of the character
of that Government. Ho hoped the facts he should now
bring under the consideration of the house would be suffi-
ciently strong to induce them to pause before they took
the government of India out of the hands of that corpora-
tion that had gained the empire for us, and, as he con-
scientiously believed, had ruled it with wisdom and bene-
volence. In the speech referred to, the right honourable
baronet had said that the Indian Government, having disco-
vered its weakness, it was not a matter of surprise that
her Majesty's Government came forward to propose its
abolition. He joined issue with the right hon. baronet on
the question whether the government of India had in the
season of its greatest emergency shown that weakness
which the right hon. baronet had stated, as the sufficient
and almost only reason for Government coming for ward to
propose the abolishing of the company. It was rather a
bold point for a right hon. gentleman to take up, who,
though not a member of the Administration at the time of
the Crimean war, was connected by office with those who
were, to assert the weakness of the government of India.
He should put it to the house to consider the matter, par-
cel by parcel, and see how the company had stood th •
shock of this mutiny. Let them look at the siege of Delhi.
At the time of that siege the greatest arsenal of India was
in the hands of the mutineers. It was not now in question
how it fell into their hands, or whether it could have been
better protected, but if it were, he should answer that it
was the Commander-in-Chief who was more especially re-
sponsible for that and that he wasappointed by the Crown
and not by the company. The question was, whether the
government of the company had shown weakness. The
great arsenal of the north-west provinces was in the hands
of the rebels, and there was not a soldier brought there by
the company that had not been in the country before, so
that they had no assistance from without, and he would
appeal to every man conversant with the history of these
occurrences whether the operations had been conducted in
a manner indicating weakness on the part of the Govern-
ment or of their military system ? (Hear, hear.) How had
the troops and the munitions of war been provided? The
troops were not subjected to the inclemency of a Crimean
winter, but they were subjected to that of the hottest sta-
tion in India. We did not hear of any green coffee—(a
laugh)—of cavalry horses eating one another's tails for
want of better and more suitable folder—(laughter)—of
injury to the cavalry by sore backs, of men perishing for
want of necessaries—(hear, hear)—of whole regiments of
shoeless men—(hoar, hear) —or of any one of those defects
which had been so lamentably apparent in the Crimea.
(Cheers.) From the beginning to the end, though the
arsenal was in the hands of the enemy, there was a suffi-
ciency and superabundance of food. (Hear, hear.) Did
that indicate weakness ? (Hear, hear.) Let them look at
the results which followed. Let them remember the ra-
pidity with which the columns for Delhi after the siege
traversed the country without showing any deficiency of
means upon the route. (Hear, hear.) Some of the marches
of Greathed and Showers were the admiration of all mili-
tary men for the rapidity with which they were carried on.
(Hear, hear.) Then look at the rapidity with which the
Guides came up, marching forty miles a day—a rate un-
known in military annals, and that under the fearful sun
of that; country. Did all that show weakness? (Hear,
hear.) So much for Delhi. Dist the situation of the Pun-
jaub at this moment indicate that degree of weakness on
the part of the Government which alone could justify the
remarks of his right hon. friend ? The Punjaub in the
hands of Sir John Lowrance, Peshawar in the hands of
Edwards, and L.hore in the hands of Montgomery, did not
appear to indicate to him that the Governm mat was weak.
Pegs had remained in an uninterrupted repose from the
outbreak to the present hour, though it was surrounded by
wild tribes, and the inhabitants were of cognate tribes, and
with the Burmese on their frontier. Did that indicate
weakness? (Hear.) In the Doab the moment it was re-
lieved from the actual presence of- the mutineers perfect
order was restored, in proof of which he read an extract
from a letter of the Chief Commissioner of Works in India
which was the last blue book. He asked whether
that indicated weakness? (Cheers.) He also called their
a'tention to a later letter to the same effect from an officer
of high distinction (Colonel Smythe) in the Bengal ser-
vice. That officer had the command of a regiment of native
horse artillery, of which almost every man was a Mahon:to-
den. He was at home on sick leave when the mutiny broke
out, but, like a gallant soldier, he hastened back to his
troop. They remained faithful during the whole siege,
though they were deprived of their guns. They went into
the trenches and served the siege train. They served with
uninterrupted fidelity, and without the desertion of a
single man. An officer who had exercised such influence
over the men, who had so won their affection as this gallant
officer must have done, deserved to be listened to with
respect. The hon. member then read the letter, which
was similar in effect to the former. Now, let them take
Bengal proper. What had been the state of these pro-
vinces? Why, where there were no sepoys there in no
single case had there been insurrection. The people had
remained faithful to the government. Last year certain
missionaries represented the state of Bengal 'as being
perilous. Now, if ever there were circumstances in which
the people could have manifested an evil spirit towards the
g )vernment, it was during the mutiny. Every seP3Y
bad mutinied, and there was not a single European
soldier between Fort William and Patna. Thera was
one policeman to 20,000 inhabitants, and yet the people
were most faithful. He (Mr. Mangles) had beau vio-
lently attacked by Dr. Duff for having stated these
things. Dr. Duff called him the magnate of Leadenhall-
street, and the pl'entate of the banks of the Thames,
and declared that the moment he was making these state-
ments Bengal was in mutiny. Why, so it was ; but it w,,.3
the mutiny of the sepoys only. Then, with regard t• Ma-
dras, what was the state there? Tae,3 was no mutiny at
Patna, although there had been a trilling eneoute there.
'Pleat was tho only case deserving the name of mutiny in
that district. All the ,t. Cons wire kel,t in perfect peace by
the people of India. Did that justify a measure like the one
proposed? In Madras the people, who had been represented
as being tyranni.,ed over, had not taken advantage of the
inu.iny to rise against the Government. Look at the Dec-
c sn—look at Hyderabad, with a wild Arab soldiery. They
were as fierce a race as existed on the face of the earth
The Deccan had been kept in good order entirely by the
fidelity of the Nizam to the British Government. The late
Capt. Conolly had stated that any officer of the Company
travelling
t enativeov e
bankers
r the country
uponuntry hisco mere
could
er always
representation obtai
that
money
from h
he was a Company's officer. The Company had been so
' much and unjustly abused, that he trusted these banks
1
would not road the statements which had been made on
the opposite side of the house. Not a single officer who had
been in India, and who had written ppm the subject, but