The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-21 00:00:00

'wieder at the event, that eminent statesmen have ac-
tually dined together. (Cheers and laughter.) lam
very glad to hear that men engaged in the strife of poli-
tics can dine together without personal hostility. I will
say nothing of the viands eaten, or of the beverage drunk
front the "loving cup" that went round. One of the
oldest and best of beverages wasnepenthe, drink
of soverayne grace, devised by gods ;'' bat that drink
was given to the wise, who had arrived at that time
of life when they were preparei to take their
place with heroes in another sphere. (Cheers and laugh-
ter.) It could not be that liquor which filled the flowing
cup, for these ancient and wise statesmen were deter-
mined to cling to this world, and mix in n l the conten-
tion and turmoil of politics. (Cheers.) Now, I-ask, is
the house prepared to overthrow the Government on this
question, which the right kon, mover had placed before
it in ambiguous terms, and is it ready to plunge the
country into the turmoil of a general election, at a mo-
ment when the people are only just slowly recovering
from the effects of the most tremendous commercial
panics ? (Cheers.) Is the house willing to delay all
legislation and all discussion on reform till next year ?
(Hear, hear.) Above all, is the house willing to take
upon itself the responsibility which will attach to it if it
avows the policy of the proclamation ? I am terrified for
the future of India when I hear of the indiscriminate
slaughter which is going on there. A. gentleman—l
believe a missionary, who has written a series of very
able letters to a most respectable weekly newspaper in
London, says it is estimated that more than 10,000 per-
Ilene have been put to death in India by hanging alone.
(Hear, hear.) When you find that such opinions areex-
pressed in India as I have to-day extracted from a
Cal-
cutta newspaper, are you willing to do anything that
can by possibility be suspected as confirming a policy of
that description t I have extracted this paragraph from
the Eregtishetato a Calcutta newspaper, which, speaking
of the men of the disarmed regiments, who probably
number from 20,000 to BEI,OOO, says-
- "There is no necessity to bring every Sepoy to a court-
eaeotiol and convict him of±nulion intentions before
putting him down as guilty. W not advocate_ extreme
or harsh measures. nor are we ofe those who would drench
the land with blood, but we have no hesitation in saying
that were the Government to order the execution of all
these Sepoys they would be legally and morall, justified in
doing so. There would be no injustice done.'
I ask the house to remember that these men had com-
mitted no offence—that their arms had been taken
from them—that they were merely suspected of being
likely to be tempted to commit offences—and yet an
Englishman, one of our countrymen, writing in a public
newspaper in Calcutta, publishes such atrocious senti-
ments as those I have just read ! I believe that the whole
of India is trembling with volcanic fires, and that we
should be guilty of the utmost recklessness, and of a
great crime against the monarchy of England, if we were
to do anything which would be an avowal of the procla-
mation that has been issued. (Cheers,) lam asked on
this question to overturn her Majesty's Government.
Why, the policy adopted by the Government on this
subject is the policy that was cheered by hon. members
on this side when it was first announced. (Hear.) It is a
policy of mercy and conciliation. False—may I not say ?
—or blundering leaders of this party would induce us,
contrary to all our associations and all our principles, to
support an opposite policy. I am willing to avow that I
sin in favour of justice and conciliation—of the law of
justice and of kindness. Justice and mercy are the
supreme attributes of the perfection which we call Deity,
but all men everywhere comprehend them. There is no
,speech nor language in which their voice is not heard,
and they could not have been vainly exercised with re-
gard to the docile and intelligent millions of India. You
had the choice. You have tried the sword. It has broken
—it now rests broken in your grasp, and you stand hum-
bled and rebuked. (Some cries of " Oh, oh," from the
Opposition.) You stand humbled and rebuked before the
eyes of civilised Europe. (Renewed cries of "Oh," and
cheers.) You may have another chance. You may, by
possibility, have another opportunity of governing
India. If you have, I beseech you to make the best use
of it. Do not let us pursue such a policy as many men in
India, and some in England, have advocated, but which
hereafter you will have to regret, which can end only, as
I believe, in something approaching to the ruin of this
country, and which must, if it be persisted in, involve
our name and nation in everlasting disgrace. (Load and
pr olonged cheering.)
Mr. COLLIER said that all sitting on that bide of
the house fully recognised the great powers of the hon.
member for Birmingham (Mr. Bright), and ;were willing
to cooperate with him on certain questions. However,
upon certain subjects relating to peace and war they
were completely at issue with the hon. gentleman. For
example, had they followed the policy advocated by the
hon, member with regard to China, it would have been
impossible for England to have held her settlement in
that country. (Hear, hear.) Had they again adopted
his views with regard to the war with Russia, their
policy must have ended in nothing but humiliation and
disgrace to the country. (Cheers.) Indeed, upon more
than one occasion the question had been raised, did not
the hon. member for Birmingham seem to regard more
the honour of his country's enemies than his country's ?
(Hear, hear.) Now, with reference to the issue raised
by the right hon. member for Oxford, he must say, in
the first place, that the whole argument grounded upon
the keeping back of the letter received by the hon. gen-
tleman the member for Northampton (Mr V. Smith)
was given up when it was announced by Lord Eden-
borough in another place, and by the right hon. gentle-
man the Chancellor of the Exchequer in that hou=e, that
the proclamation of Lord Canning, announcing a gene-
ral confiscation, required no explanation, as it was inde-
fensible; and he ventured to affirm that the despaech
sent out in answer to the proclamation was one of the
most disgraceful documents that ever issued from a
Minister of the Crown. The hon. member for Birming-
ham had spoken a good deal upon the consequences of
overthrowing the present Government. Now he (Mr.
Collier) was well aware that there were a great many
sitting on that side of the house who wished the present
Government to stand, but then the problem of how to
enable a Government to stand was a problem more diffi-
cult of solution than that solved by Columbus. (Hear,
bear.) During the short time they had been in office,
the Government had committed not one but a series of
blunders, and it was apparent, therefore,lthat it was no
longer ea a to entrust the administration of the affairs
of the country into such hands. (Hear, hear.)
Sir W. FRASER said that the noble viscount op-
posite, the member for the West Riding (Viscount
Godericb) had in his most indiscriminating manner con-
founded the case of the mutinous sepoys and the native
inhabitants of Oade. The former of these had undoubt-
edly been guilty of an enormous crime, and he would
aecordingly show them no mercy, but towards the la' ter
he would deal out a very different order of justice. He
believed that a great deal of time had been lost in dis-
cussing the meaning of the term confiscation. None he
should not reopen any question upon that poict, as he
thought gentlemen in Englend would pretty clearly un-
derstood what was meant if any were told their estates
were all to be confiscated. (Hear, and a laugh.) He
could not help thinking, too, that the fire directed from
that side of the house against the late right honourable
President of the India Board bad been rather too in-
cessant and too concentrated. In that case it seemed to
him the doctrine as to subordinate responsibility bad
been overlooked. On the other band, it would have been
more becoming in the noble lord the member for 'reser-
ton if he had come earlier to the rescue of his subor-
dinate. (Hear.)
Captain "VIVIAN had listened with great regret to
the speech of the hon. member for Birmingham (Mr,
Bright), for be could not conceive bow one, whose talents
were so universally acknowledged, could have conde-
scended to such littleness in his argument. He had
tried to find in that speech something appertaining to
the merits of the qaestion before them, but so far as he
could gather it was entirely confined to attacks upon
those who occupied the front ranks of the opposi-
tion benches. He, for one, should give his vote, when
it came to a vote, on the merits of the case, as be had
no wish as to who should occupy the Ministerial bench.
But he was called upon to say whether Government
had rightly issued the despatch. They had been
accused of shirking the question of the proclamation,
but he had no doubt that when the proclamation
came before them there would be many on that
side of the house ready to uphold Lord Canning's
policy. The word confiscation had been wholly
misinterpreted, and any one who uaderetcod the
state of the country, or who bad read General Sloan:lan's
book, would know that the proclamation did not touch
the real cultivation of the soil. The tabokdare and zetn-
indars of Oude were a set of robbers and rascals who tcok
possession of the land, and wanting to get a title to it,
called themselves by those names. He would net go in' o
the question of the annexation of Oude, though to be•
lieved it was forced on us; but when it was annexid we
found there two classes, the workers and robbeis—the
beee the 'wasps. Lord Canning had resolved to exter-
minate the wasps, and in doing so was stung by a bore et.
(Hear.) When the papers which had been received that
day were before them, they might better judge of that
question, but in the publication of the despatch they had
committed, if not a dereliction of duty, at least an indis-
cretion, which was sufficient to deprive them of the con-
fidence of the house.
Mr. K. SEYMER said they had been talking of India
but thinking of something else, viz., of the question
whether the occupants of the Treasury benches could be
sent over to the other side of the hou-e. He was sorry
the Indian question had been made a ground of pal ty at-
tack, but they would find the noble lord (Palmerston) too
old to mend. (A. laugh) What he was in Feb, he would
be to the end of the chapter. The other side had been
pressing legislation for India during the present as 5.0011,
and now these Government days had been occupied in
this discussion, and it was very probable that would pre-
vent any legislation on the subject of India this se-siou
a result which he should not much regret. If there were
any independent Liberal members in the house, he would
ask them if they in their hearts approved of the priiey
of confiscation. If not, let them place themselves in the
position of the Government and ask them what else th, y
could honestly have done ? He knew that two nci 1
lords (Palmerston and Russell) thought that whenever
they put
t thet:lt3eirbeads together a powerful party could be
fidenee of the ...n.oble lord (Palmerston) had lostthl, con-
iregain ral party, and what had he done to
(gear hear.) If thego noble lords came in
again they 9,,,,„1,1n
hew window at Ilroot
ok !Dolt far beyond the peerage and ihe
have a reinauguration
.i(Laughter.) They would tLou
what was cane] a spirited
foreign policy,
viz., the policy
of big words and small
deed,. (A laugh.) When t
now in office joined
in censuring what they considered an nnprovoked at-
tea on Canton, the noble lord(Palmerston)ry
made them
oat guilty as accomplices of the barbarismso committed
by the Cninege in reprisal for that attack, and no doubt
he would now throw upon them the blame of the
na
gacre of Cawnpore. (Hear, bear.) But the electors even
nverton would not again be misled. By the time
they went to the country it would no longer Le a
question of whether the despatch ought to have been
published, but it would be a question involving financial