The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-15 00:00:00

despatches written at the time and in the book subsequently
published by Mr. Cooper. There is a tone of flippancy,
and an air of levity, there is an appearance of exultation at
that great sacrifice of human life—a sacrifice of life made
not in the heat of action nor after a judicial process—
which are utterly at variance with good taste and good
feeling, and which, after making all allowance—and great
allowance must be made—for the circumstances of the time
and place, it is impossible not to blame. But what the house
has to consider is, not the style in which Mr. Cooper has
written of those transactions, but the circumstances under
which they occurred. Now what were those circumstances?
The regiment in question, tho 26th Native Infantry, was
stationed at Meanee--!disarmed, I admit, only as a measure
of precaution, but still disarmed under strong suspicion of
intended mutiny and placed under restraint. It remained
under restraint for about six weeks. On the 30th of July an
attempt was made, which is described in the papers which
had been alluded to. It has been said in vindication of that
attempt that it was merely • an effort on the part of those
troops to escape, and that that effort was prompted by a
species of fear, because they were afraid of being sent away
in small parties, and knowing that the population of the
country was hostile to them, they apprehended that their
being so sent away would be their inevitable destruction.
Now I apprehend that is simply a mistake in fact. It is
quite true that at a later period these disarmed regiments
were sent away in small parties, but no such sending away
had taken place at the time when this outbreak arose, and
escape, therefore, is not the term to apply to the movement
which took place. It must be remembered that these single
movements of mutiny, which possibly might have escaped
the reach of justice, were yet the escape of a large body of
men who unquestionably were prepared to resist force by
force, and to escape from the place where they were kept
under surveillance, which would in fact be an attempt to
cut their way through any force that might resist them. It
is undoubtedly the case that at the time these troops were
disarmed ; but any one who knows India knows that arms
are not difficult to obtain, and probably they would have
been obtained if these troops had succeeded in making their
way to any great distance. I say, therefore, that these men
were not mere fugitives—they were insurgents against the
British Government. (Hear, hear.) And where were
they going ? Why, at that time Delhi was not taken.
(Hear, hear.) It was in the very crisis of the rebellion.
Every man of them who had reached those districts where
the war was going on in Hindostan and Central India,
would have gone to swell the ranks of the insurgents, and
to add to that already enormously disproportionate force
which was arrayed against the Imperial Government.
Why, then, I say, that whatever may have been the in-
spiring motive at the time of this outbreak, it was impos-
sible to consider it but as a mutiny, an insurrection at a
most critical time. Well, then, it is said that the Sikhs
fired upon those troops before the murder was committed.
Now we have not, and probably never Shall have, any full
and circumstantial evidence of what occurred at that time,
but we know that an outbreak actually took place on the
30th of July, and it was only reasonable and probable to
suppose that, under the circumstances, an English officer
being present at no great distance, any attack made by the
Sikhs upon those men was an attack provoked by a previous
outbreak on their part. But then was this outbreak a mere
blunder from panic, and from an instinct of self-defence ?
If that be the case, how came those two European officers
to be murdered as they were ? It may, of course, be said
that the murder of Major Spencer was the work of an in-
dividual only, but we do not find that there was any at-
tempt amongst the others to give up that individual, or take
part against him in any way, and
,I cannot myself discon-
nect them from the crime. But, admitting that the mur-
der of Major Spencer was an individual act, the other officer
was enticed into the line by some of the men, who offered
to show him the body of Major Spencer, and then when he
was brought amongst them and m their power, an attempt
was made to take his life, and he very narrowly escaped.
The object in that case could not have been to get rid of an
inconvenient witness, or to resist any immediate danger, for
at that time there was no immediate danger to which they
were exposed. These appear, if we can judge from the in-
sufficient evidence we have, to have been premeditated and
atrocious murders, and the acts of the regiment. I will not
dwell on the painful scenes that ensued. It is unfortunately
true that out of 700 men nearly 500 suffered death, some on
the spot, and some afterwards at Lahore. Sir J. Lawrence,
then chief commissioner, ordered some of these executions,
or gave his sanction to them ; and hero I will remark that
he did not give them his sanction in ignorance of the true
nature of Mr. Cooper's acts. The facts undoubtedly were
known to him at the time, because Mr. Cooper had related
them in more than one despatch, and he expressly states in
a despatch to the Government of India that " Mr. Cooper
deserves much credit for his exertions." Lord Canning, in
a despatch of the 11th September, " highly commends the
energetic measures taken for the capture. and disposal of the
26th N. I." We have it then that every authority in India
regarded this punishment as inevitable—that the command-
ing officer and another officer had been murdered, and need-
lessly murdered by these men; that the object or at least
the result of their escape, would have been that they would
have joined the insurgent force elsewhere, and that a severe
examyle appeared to be necessary in order to prevent similar
risings elsewhere. Reference had been made to the note
addressed to Mr. Cooper by Mr. Montgomery. I agree with
the hon. member that it is couched in hasty language, and
language probably such as would not have been deliberately
employed ; but I submit that whatever vindication the case
allows of is furnished by the terms of that communication,
because in that note it appears, as indeed we know from
other sources, that there was at the time at or near Lahore,
stationed in various parts of the Punjaub, a large force of
troops of the same character, and similarly disarmed and
placed under restraint, exposed to the same temptation, and
not unlikely to yield to that temptation. Probably, there-
fore, the feeling of Sir J. Lawrence and those who were
there in command was that a severe and signal example in-
flicted upon those who first rose against the British Govern-
ment, might prevent similar outbreaks among these regi-
ments, and in the end be the means of saving more lives.
(Hear, hear.) I have now endeavoured to state that which
I apprehend may be fairly stated in vindication or in pal-
liation of the course which was taken. I cannot but wish
—and I state in this my sincere conviction—that this indis-
criminate execution should not have taken place, but
that some selection had been made, and some punish-
ment short of death inflicted on the mass of those con-
cerned; but it is one thing to wish an act of this kind had
not been done, and it is another to pass a formal censure
upon it. It was only by great exertions, by signal examples,
and by inspiring terror as much as by employing force, that
Sir John Lawrence saved the Punjaub ; and if the Punjaub
had gone, all India would have gone. (Hear.) Sir John
Lawrence has declared this act to be allowable; the Gover-
nor-General has confirmed his opinion ; and taking all these
circumstances into consideration, and remembering that we
at this distance of time and place, are hardly fair judges of
the feelings of men engaged in such a struggle, I hope the
house do not say approve—but pass over this trans-
action with that silence which is sometimes the most judi-
cious comment that could be passed. (Cheers.)