The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-09 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YurERDAL)
VOTE OF THANKS TO THE ARMY, NATY,

AND CIVIL SERVICE IN INDIA.
Lord PANMURE, having thanked his noble friend
for giving way, proceeded to say that the motion of which
he had given notice was one of those which properly
belonged to the station which he had the honour to fill,
and there waa none which it gave him greater pleasure

to be called upon to discharge. The honour which was
conferred by a vote of thanks from that house was one
which every branch of her Majesty's service considered
to be the highest they could receive. They remembered
the anecdote of Sir John Moore, who, when dying on
the battle-field, exclaimed, with almost his last breath,
''l hope they will do justice to ns at home." Yes, jus-
tice at home. What would be thought at home, was the
feeling that pervaded the breast of every man who was
serving his country 'on hard.fought fields and distant
lands, and it was that which sustained them in their
struggles, which consoled them in their hardships, which
even comforted them in the last moments of their exist-
ence. It would now be his duty to call their lordships'
attention to a train of circumstances which spread over
a considerable space of time, and the actor in which had
not as yet received any notice from Parliament. There
were three classes of individuals to whom he should ask
their lordships to tender the expression of their thanks ;
the first being those persons who stood highest in the
administration of India, and under whose direction in
their different offices ail the operations for putting down
the mutiny had been carried on ; the second, those
brave men who had conferred so much additional lustre
on their country's arms ; and the third—and this wag a
resolution which he tendered in addition to the first two
which had been placed on tLe paper, consisting of per/awe
who, although beloaging neither to the military nor
civil service, had nevertheless not hesitated to aid the
forces fighting throughout ladle, either in putting down
the mutiny in the field, or in bravely defending some
post at which they happened to be present at the mo-
ment of attack. (Bear, hear.) The first individual to
whom he wished to refer was the noble lord who,
throughout the recent most trying circumstances,
had administered the government of India. To Lord
Canning, in his conviction, was the thanks not only of
that house but of the country justly due, for the calm,
courageous, and prudent manner in which he had con-
ducted himself in the midst of the greatest difficulties.

There was no one who could eay that had even a Clive

or a Wellesley administered India during the same
period, they could have anticipated the widespread ruin
which this mutiny had caused, or have made better
preparations for meeting it than Lord Canning had
done. This mutiny had burst upon India like an ava-
lanche or a torrent, and it found Lord Canning with
little more than the resources of the moat ordinary times.
Bat all the details which had come to hand only exhi.

bited in a stronger light the readiness with which Lord
Canning had applied all the resources within his reach,
and had sent to ♦arious places for troops to reinforce
those which were already in Bengal. In the first place
he applied to Lord Elgin, to whom troops had been in-
trusted for another purpose. It was true that orders to
the same effect had been sent out by the home Govern.
rnent, but they had not reached, and yet instructions
were sent to Point de Galle for the troops which should
call there to be sent on to Calcutta, and the same to
China, so that from both places troops were obtaiued for
the reinforcement of the army in India. Lord Canning
further sent to Sir H. Ward, in Ceylon, and to Sir G.
Grey at the Cape, and from both he received the same
support which he had already obtained from Lord
Elgin, and in all cases was it tendered and given with
such promptitude and alacrity that Lord E!gin, Sir G.
Grey, and Sir H. Ward had already received the thanks
of her Majesty's Government. Again, Lord Canning
had not only called in all the help he could obtain from
without, and had applied all the troops at his disposal
in the best manner for the suppression of the mutiny,
but ke also set himself to work to organise the means
far forwarding the troops as they should arrive from
Europe, and he (Lord Panmare) hal it in his power
to say en authority that could not be contradicted,
that in such endeavours Lord Canning had entirely
succeeded. Since the mutiny had first broken out,
although the ordinary channels of communication were
interrupted, and although difficulties every day occurred
tar greater than any that could have been expected,
means of carriage had been found sufficient to move
HMO men from Calcutta to the Central Provinces,
most of these by land, as being the easiest conveyance,
and all being brought in a state of perfect efficiency to
the spot in which their services were required. (Hear.)
A. system of bullock carts was organised, that system
which Lord Canning had been censured for not esta-
blishing by force, that was, by seizing on all the convey-
ances in the coantry, and thus raising against us the
prejndices of all the ryots and small landed proprietors.
Bat by wise and temperate measures, by working on the
feeling■ of these individuals, by firmness and decision,
Lord Canning has not only avoided the necessity of for-
cible seizure, but had so effectually organised these very
ryota that by the last accounts se abundant ware the
resources of transport, that no less than 500 carts in
excess were waiting on the railway train, and their
drivers went away complaining because their convey-
ances had not bees employed. Therefore was he (Lord
Panmure) justified in saying that Lord Canning had
improved the means at his disposal, and bad doze every-
thing that was possible for man to do in the extraordinary
emergency in which he was placed. But it was not fur
that he chiefly admired Lord Canning, so much as for
the tranquil and equal bearing of that noble lord, at a
time when other men in Calcutta hardly knew what to
do. Lord Canning remained calm and collected in the
midst of all his difficulties, and he believed that no one
in hie high station bad exhibited a greater degree of
high moral courage, more determination, mere readiness

to meet all emergencies than the noble lord, to whom he
trusted that house was about to tender its thanks. (Par-
tial cheers.) The neat individual, high in rank and
eminent for ability, to whom he invited their lordships
to tender thanks was the Governor of the Presidency of
Madras. (Hear, hear.) To Lord Harris they owed that
during all that had occurred in Bengal, tranquillity was
maintained in the neighbouring presidency. In that
presidency the soldiers remained faithful to their colours,
and showed an example of loyalty and attachment to
British rule which could not be too highly commended.
(Hear.) Lord Harris was enabled by his excellent ar-
rangements not only to send such Queen's troops as were
in his presidency to Bengal, but he also sent the gallant
Neill ; and for these services he (Lord Panmure) trusted
that Lord Harris would receive their lordships' thanks
(Hear.) There was another noble lord who was well
known to many of their lordships—he meant Lord El.
phinstone, who with equal efficiency, administered the
presidency of Bombay. In all that had occurred, no
man could have shown greater decision of character,
greater readiness of resource, greater desire to relieve his
noble friend in the presidency of Bengal, than had Lord
Elphinstone in his government of Bombay. (Hear.) It
was at Lord Elphinstone's suggestion that application
was ma le to the Mauritius ; where, as in other places,
Governor Higginson promptly sent off every soldier at
his command. There was another civil officer to whom
he thought it was their lordships' duty most warmly to
express their thanks, that officer was Sir John Lawrence.
(Rear.) It was hardly possible to mention the name of
Lawrence without raising in the breast of everyone who
heard it a feeling of gratitude and admiration for the
manner in which the office of chief commissioner had
been filiedby the individual for whom he (Lord Panmure)
then bespoke their lordshipa' thanks. At the time of
the outbreak SirJ. Lawrence sent down tothe assistance
of the army of Delhi all that he could spare of the Euro-
pean and native troops ; and not only did he do so, but
be diligently set himself to work in order to get together
fresh levies. So great was the assistance thus given, that
it might be said without;offence to those who most gal-
lantly conducted the siege, that Delhi fell through the
exertions of Sir J. Lawrence. There remained one more
individual connected with the civil service of India to
whom their lordshipa' attention must be invited,
viz., Mr. Frere, Mr. Frere's name might not
probably have been so much before the public
as the name of those' to whom allusion
had already been made, but there was in truth no man
to whom India owed more. He had moulded the people
of Soinde to British rule ; by his prudence he had greatly
coatributed to the success of the Europeans, for he had
been able to send aid where aid was required, and he
had, by his wise government, preserved perfect tranquil.
lity throughout the province with which he was charged.
'Ledthese members of the civil service he (Lord Panmure)
theirienorth; first place, to move their lordships to grant
l thanks. (Hear.) Passing these, he next
came to those officers who had distinguished themselves
in arms throughout the course of this mutiny. He was
aware that in moving votes of thanks to the army it was
often an invidious task to select those officers to whom
the individual thanks of that house were to be given.
On the present occasion he should select the names of
four gallant generale—
nand at their several stations, and were
supremwehienn names were mentioned, wculeanadt men who,
these
one command their
lordshipa' applause. The fisrisrtetreli;
c was the Corn-
In:bell had only to
mander-in-Cbief of India.
tat their lord-
be mentioned to ensure a I,yal reception
ships' hands. (Hear,) It was needls'
be saperfluotia, to refer to the former 'claveweoruld indeedc
Campbell, It was in the minds of every person throughout
11.
the country. (Hear.) Upon this occasion Sir u Colin
Campbell accepted upon two (lays' notice the command
of the army in India, and within one day after his ac-
ceptance he Ras on his road to India. (Hear.) ge
reached Calcutta in a space of time unprecedented in the
c,ee (f any commander-in-chief who bad preceded He,.
When Sir C. Campbell reached Calcutta be found the
geld inviting him in every direction. He did not rush
at once to take the command of an army : he was aware
that he should be followed by considerable reinforce.
mints, and be found that these reinforcements would
bare to be moved considerable distances. He
patiently waited at Calcutta for those necessary troops,
and in the meantime was in communication—and
he (Lord Panmure) would say in most harmonious
communication—with the Governor-General. But
the story of the sufferings at Lucknow reached
Sir C. Campbell. He collected his men, and his first
great action in India was the relief of Lucknow. The
manner in which Sir C. Campbell performed that duty,
his successful military operations justified him (Lord
?Immure) in saying that Sir Ce Campbell commanded
the admiration of all. tilear, bear.) Sir C, Campbell,
once in possession of the residency of Lucknow, found
that it would not be expedient to remain there. He de-
termined to withdraw from Lucknow, and he accom-
plished that retirement—it could not be called a retreat
—encumbered with his precious burden of women and
children, in a manner to command the highest admira-
tion. Sir C. Campbell next attacked and put to rout
the Gwalior contingent. This contingent was perhaps
the most formidable body with which the troops in India