The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-28 00:00:00

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Military mutiny is to be put down, the Government can-
not be trusted with the settlement of the amount of
force to be applied and the means by which success is
to be achieved, what confidence could be placed in them
at all ? Therefore, if I agreed that this.was a military
Mutiny only, even if I was of opinion that the force they
recommended was not sufficient for the occasion, I shoal
leave the responsibility to them, and if they failed in their
object from want of means Parliament would be able to
exact a due account. But, concluding, as I do, that this is
a national revolt, I do not think that the means announced
by the Government are adequate to the occasion. Let us
consider what are the weans with which the Government
intend to save our empire. We heard at first of 14,000 men
to be sent out, but nearly one-half of that amount con-
sisted of reliefs. Some 6,000 of these men are to fill up
vacancies among the European ranks in India; so that,
although the total number of troops to be sent out amounts
we are now told to 20,000 to '26,000, yet the additional
force we shall furnish will be only 18,000 or 19,000 men.
Of that number, how many can be fairly estimated ever
to appear in the field? There will be the percentage of
loss from the voyage, the percentage of loos from climate,
and the casualties of warfare, even before actual war has
begun. You cannot expect that of those 18,000, or 19,000
men more than 15,000 fresh troops will arrive on the field
in India. To my mind, our efforts should be on a much
greater scale. There should be not only an advance from
Calcutta through Bengal, but also an expedition advancing
UP the Indus, and I am not certain that the ;latter is not
the more important of the two expedition'. lt is only in
that manner you can embrace and command your empoei,
and the means announced are not adequate to a de-
monstration of that kind, and it could not be done unless
the noble lord takes much bolder steps than he seems in-
lined at present to adopt. I think he ought to call out the
militia—not only call them out, but embody them ; and I
do not understand, unless the noble lord does this, new he
can maintain the war with effect. Besides it is of the ut-
most importance to establish in this country a powerful
and ample reserve. How can that be done unless you not
only call out but embody the militia ? The noble lord said
the other night, in reply to some observations of mine,
that he saw no use in calling out the militia, except to
make that a means of recruiting the regular army. No
doubt it is a high privilege and a noble duty for the militia
to recruit the ranks of the regular army, but I cannot
agree that it is the first duty of the militia. Their first
duty is to defend our hearths, and I do not see, not caring
to allude to the present state of Europe, but simply re-
garding the alarming condition of Asia, what steps can be
taken for the proper maintenance of our national defences
unless the militia be called out and embodied, and the
noble lord comes down to the house to ask for ample means
to prosecute the war in which we have embarked. I have
made these observations as to force, and I should not have
ventured to make any criticism upon the acts of the Go-
vernment upon this subject if I had been able to agree
With them as to the causes of the disturbance. But to my
mind that is not all that we ought to look to. Even if we
do vindicate our authority with complete success—if we
do revenge the insult that we have received—if we rebuild
the power that has been destroyed, it appears to me that
we have still a very great and responsible task before us,
for it is impossible, even in the moment of action, to drive
from our consideration not merely the future of India, but '
also the present condition and feeling of the great mass of
the population. We may pour our legions and our fleets
lip the rivers and through the provinces of India. We may
be successful, but to my mind we should add to that suc-
cess and doubly strengthen our force—and I am prepared,
for one, to give any support to her Majesty's Government
which they may require for that purpose, if at the same
time we should say to India that supposes she is aggrieved
and outraged—to India perhaps despairing of pardon,
Although we will assert with the highest hand our autho-
rity—although we will not rest until our unquestioned su-
premacy and predominance are acknowledged, from the
Punjab to Cape Comorin—it is not merely as avengers that
We appear." I think that the great body of the populatien
of that country ought to know that there is for them a
future hope. I think we ought to temper justice with mercy
—justice the most severe with mercy the most indulgent.
Bat how are you to do that? What step are you prepared
to take? How are you going, let me ask to govern India,
when, as I have heard, it has been circulAted on the highest
authority that the native army in Bengal no longer exists?
Has the house well considered the consequences of so easily
saying that as the native army of Bengal has no longer any
existence we should substitute it by English regiments ? I
do not wish to view the question as a question of finance.
This country is in that condition at the present moment
which will not permit us to dwell upon such considera-
tions. But suppose you had 100,000 or 200,000 English-
men in India, could you govern India with such men ?
You might as well talk of governing India with a House of
Commons. (A. laugh.) Why, the supposition that you
are to have an army of Europeans to govern India assumes
a complete revolution, both in your external policy and in
sour internal administration. (Cheers.) How are you to
invade kingdoms like Pegu, how are you to conquer coun-
tries like the Punjaub with men of English constitution ?
How could they journey through those burning deserts and
Perform those actions which now are with facility per-
formed by the native troops? You could not do it. Look
at the position of the English regiments in India. We have
been obliged to guard them up to the moment of those bat-
tles which they have been called upon to fight, and which
they have invariably won. Well, then, what is to be said
of your foreign policy ? It no longer exists. You must
entirely change all your relations with the States coter-
minous with your Indian empire. But look at your internal
administration. Can you levy your revenues with English
troops? (Hear.) Are English troops to be put at every
outpost ? Are they to escort the money from your treasu-
Are they to perform all those duties which now are
With facility performed by those whose nature and organi-
sation adapt them to live and work in that country ? It is
totally impossible that you can ever govern 100,000,030 of
men merely by European agency. (Hear.) You must meet
thatdifficulty boldly and completely. Well, then, the course
Which' recoin mend is this:e-You must at once, whether you
have received news of success or of some defeat, tell the
people of India that the relations between them and their
ruler and Sovereign Queen Victoria shall be drawn nearer.
(Loud cheers.) • You must act upon the opinion of India
on that subject immediately ; and you can only act upon
the opinion of Eastern nations through their imagination.
(Hear, hear.) You ought to have a Royal Commission
sent by the Queen from this country to India immediately
to inquire into the grievances of the various classes of that
population. (Cheers.) You ought to have a Royal pro-
clamation to the people of India, declaring that the Queen
of England is not a Sovereign who will countenance the
violation of treaties—(cheers)—that the Queen of England
is not a Sovereign who will disturb the settlement of pro-
perty— (hear, hear)—that the Queen of England is a Sove-
reign who will respect their laws, their usages, their cie -
tows and, above all, their religion. (Hear, hear.) Do
this, and do this not in a corner, but in a mode and man-
ner which will attract universal attention and excite the
general hope of Hindostan, and you will do as much as all
your fleets and armies can achieve. (Hear, hear.) But to
do this you must act with vigour. You must send to that
country the men who are most entitled to such office, and
who shall appear in Hindostan and demand possession in
the Queen's name. If that be done simultaneously with
the arrival of your forces you may depend upon it your
military advances will be precipitated, and I believe your
Ultimate success will be insured. (Hear, bear.) Sir, no
one can be more sensible than myself that I have most im-
perfectly treated this great question. I may be asked why,
with these convictions, I have ended these observations
only with a motion for papers. It may be said that if the
Views of the Government and those I have expressed ap-
pear to •be so contrary, " Why don't you assert your
opinions in a resolution, and call upon Paid:au:tent to sanc-
tion it?" (Hear, hear.) I will state the reason why I
have not taken that course. I thought it was of very
great importance that at this emergency the Parliament of
England should not shrink from entering into a dis-
cussion upon this question. It appeared to me that if
We were to retuln to our counties in silence we should
have abdicated our functions—(loud cheers)—and lost all
Claim on the confidence of the people. It is at these
moments that we who are the great council of
the nation should stand forward to be the guides and guar-
, diens of the people of this country. The opinions of the
Government upon it have not been expressed in such a
decided manner—they have net been adopted so long that
I
can despair to find that their minds will rise with the
occasion, and that they will embrace a more vigorous and
larger policy than they have hitherto seamed to imitate or
recommend. I cannot renounce the hope that even the
discussion of this night, after others may perhaps have
been listened to more competent than myself, may elicit
from the Government a declaration which may carry some
hope and confidence to the people. If they should take
that course, see in what a position we should then be
placed. A united Parliament and a strong Government
are two circumstances most necessary in the difficult posi-
tion in which we are placed. That is aconsideration which
has influenced my mind. It is not that I myself, on this
or on
any other subject upon which I might recommend a
Policy would shrink from responsibility ; but I wish to
show'to Europe and to Asia that it is not the desire of a
Parliament to overthrow a Ministry to save an empire.
I trust, therefore, that this discussion will at least elicit
such, a declaration of policy on the part of the Government
that the only duty of the House of Commons in future will
be to support it with cordial sincerity. If they do nottake
that course—if they do not take sufficient means, and
public disaster occur—deep will be their responsibility.
We shall meet again perhaps sooner than this house ex-
pects; and if they neglect their duty to their country, I,
for one, will not shrink from responsibility. I will then
appeal with confidence to en indignant people and a deter-
mined Parliament, and I will ask them with united ener-
gies to save an endangered empire. (Great cheering.) Sir,
I beg to move that there be laid before his House :-1.
Copy of any minute or despatch addressedto the Governor •
General of India, by his Excielleney the Commander-in-
Chief, the late Major-General the Hon. G. Anson, dated
on or about garch, 1855, relative to the state of the Ben-
gal army. 2. Copy of a report on the -organisation of the
Bengal army, drawn up by the late Lieutenant-General
Sir Charles Napier, and transmitted to his Grace the
Duke of Wellington, K.G.
Mr. V. SMITH said it was impossible to deny that the
right hon. gentleman had made a very remarkable speech,
but at the close of his three hours' oration he was tempted
to ask what was the use of it. The right hon. gentleman
had charged the Government with treating this grave ques-
tion of the mutiny of the Bengal army with levity. He
(Mr. V. Smith) denied that he had ever so treated it.
When the right hon. gentleman put a question to him in
reference to it, he answered it as well as he was able • and
if he did not exhibit that anxiety the right hon. gentleman
thought necessary, he co. ld only say that while he hoped
and believed for the best, her Majesty's Government were
preparing for the worst. He had not endeavoured to make
light of the evil, but merely to state the view the Govern-
ment-took of it, and the course they were pursuing in re-
gard to it. All that they had heard from India justified
him in assumieg that the Indian Government were taking
the necessary means to 'nest the difficulty, and were san-
guine of being able to overcome it. The right hon. gentle-
man had taken a very different course, for instead of his
statements being calculated to allay the alarm of the public
—the course he had taken was fraught with mischief. If
there had been any comfort and consolation in the last
news from India, it was to be found in two points ; the
first was that there was not the slightest symptoms of a
national revolt ; there was not a tithe of evidence of any
-such thing, nor had the right hon. gentleman produced any
evidence to prove the existence of such a thing, although
he had said that there was a national revolt. Another con-
solatory circumstance contained in the last information
from the East was the assurance that no native Prince had
any connection with or was concerned in these transactions.
The right hon. gentleman, however, kept away that solace
and consolation, and stated broadly that there was a con-
spiracy among the native princes. There was not a tittle
of evidence of any such conspiracy, and he (Mr. V.
Smith) was glad, when the right hon. gentleman was pro-
ceeding with those statements, to perceive, by looking at
the clock, that the hour was past when the India mail of
that night was closed, and that there was no chance of
these statements of the right honourable gentleman going
forth at the present moment to India. He denied that
imputation in the name of the native princes—he denied it
in the name of the Maharajah of Gwalior, who had done BO
much to. assist us, and who had offered 1004 for every

prisoner that was brought in by his troops, and in the
name of the Rajah of Pumair ; and he denied the state-
ment of the right hon. gentleman when he raid of those
native princes who had been our staunch allies that their
only desire was to betray us. However he might admire
the eloquence cf the right hon. gentleman, he could not
but regret the inexpediency of the course he had ;deleted.
As to the motion itself, it was nothing; and one p rt of it
was a motion for papers which di I not exist, namely, any
minute or letter addressed to the Governor-General of
India by the late commander-in-chief, dated about March,
1856, relative to the state of the Bengal army. He had
made every inquiry in his office, and a search had been
made at the India-house, and the only minute or despatch
of March, 135', from the commander-in-chief related to
the leave given to certain officers of different regiments,
and ending with an expression of his wish that there
should be no further withdrawal of any regimental
officers. With reg ird to the other paper moved for, a
report on the organisation of the Bengal army drawn up
by the late General Sir C. Napier, and transmitted to the
Duke of Wellington, the despatch was founded on a totally
different subject to that to which the right hon. gentleman
had alluded ; for it related to the defence of the frontier of
India, and especially of the Prinjaub, in the course of
which an incidental ref rence was male to the state of the
troops, but as it mainly, if not altogether, related to the
defence of our frontier, it would be most unadvisable to
produce it, especially as the other part of it relating to the
troops did not bear out the statement of the right hon.
gentle nan. Besides, the report was made in 1849 to the
late Duke of Wellington, who took no notice of it, nor bad
any notice been taken of it by any other commander-in-
in-chief ; so that neglect in that respect could not be at-
tributed to the Goveonment. He did not think that it
was necessary for him to follow the right hon. gentle-
man into the details of the dissertation on the state of
India into which he had gone, and the circumstances
connected with which he said bad been going on for
several years ; and therefore his strictures did not apply
to the present, any more than to any recent Government;
and they certainly applied to the Government of which
the right hon. gentleman was a member, for he had ex-
tended his censure on the Government of India from 1848
to 1-56. The right hon. gentleman said with perfect
truth—and in mauy of his observations he (Mr. V. Smith)
entirely concurred—that in anything which related to a
change in the condition of India, it would be well to con-
sider who was responsible for that change. (Hear.) It
was quite true that India had been for years in a state of
transition—that is, there bad been an attempt made to
adapt the customs and opinions of this country to the
civil and military service of India ; and the reason of that
was, that in the House of Commons the question of India
had been taken up in a peculiar way, and an attempt had
been made to engraft on our Indian empire our own cus-
toms. Whether that was a wise coarse or not he could
not say ; but the right hon. gentleman had solved the
question, for he said that all the evils which had arisen in
India had arisen from our going too fast. What had
been stated by the right hon. gentleman with regard to
the alteration of the Hindoo law of marriage—and he
believed the right hon. gentleman went so far as to
object to the abolition of Suttee—(Mr. Disraeli : "No,
no.")—Well, at any rate, he spoke of the abolition of
Hindoo ceremonies, but he believed that all that the right
hon. gentleman had stated on that subject, and the effects
which had been produced, was perfectly true; there
could not be a doubt of it. But it was caused by the
irresistible force of public opinion in the country, which
no Government could hope to resist. The right hon.
gentleman said that by making these changes, we
interfered with the native authority, we interfered with
the native religion, and disturbed the settlement of native
property. The right hon. gentleman had gone very mi-
nutely into the quest on of the interference wit'i the native
authority ; and the right hen. gentleman commented on
the minute of Lord Daraotei, on that subject. He (Mr. V.
Smith) had a great admiration for Lord Dalhousie, in which
no doubt the right hen. gentleman would agree with him ;
but he was not prepared to say that in this respect Lord
Dalhousie did not go too far in his policy. It must, how-
ever, be recollected that Lord Dalhousie's policy had been
more than once rejected by the East India Company and
the home government. The right hon. gentleman was not
correct in supposing that the system of adoption by the na-
tives of India was extended beyond their kinsmen and to
strangers. This question was a grave and most important
one, and one which was well worth the attention of the
House of Commons awl of assemblies, such as committees
and commis-ions, more calculated to sift and examine into
it than the House of Commons. Every estate should be
considered by itself, and the question should not be consi-
dered as a system ; for each estate in the 'case of the fail-
ure of issue was surrounded by its own circumstances and
peculiarities. But the right hon. gentleman said in the
most sweeping way, that the abolition of the system of
adoption had been the cause of the revolt. If the native
princes had been indignant at the treatment of the Rajah
of Sattara, they would most probably have shown it, and
when it was said that the Nizam ought to have shown some
feeling on the subject, it was, in fact, admitted that he
had not taken offence. Perhaps, however, when the speech
of the right hon. gentleman was analysed in India, we
should have a shoal of Indian princes coming over here
and getting eminent lawyers to bring their cases before
the House of Commons. Not that the right hon. gen-
tleman had ever interfered in any of these cases, nor had
he been at any time mixed up with Indian affairs until
the occurrence of this mutiny, which had caused so
much excitement, when he had taken so much
pains in the preparation of the eloquent speech
he had delivered that evening. It would, however, have
been better if the right hon. gentleman had exercised
some reserve on this question, for although he (Slr. V.
Smith) was aware that the difficulty of a Ministry was the
opportunity of an opposition, yet it would have been bet-
ter on such an occasion as this to have been somewhat
more reserved. The next thing which the right hon. gen-
tleman said had awakened the wrath of all India was the
disturbance of the settlement of property, and he alluded
to the commission which bad inquired into the system of
the Jagheers and Zemins. The right hon. gentleman spoke
of these holdings as freehold, but they were more in the
nature of feudal tenures, for many of them were held by
military service, swell as keeping a certain number of
horses ready saddled and bridled for service with the
Rajah ; but the tenure was not such as they could claim
from the Rajah himself; and often when a Rajah died,
they had to pay a thumping fine; and on the whole, the
holders of land had been rather benefitted by the change
of landlords. But the reason of the issuing of the commis-
sion was the gross frauds which existed in the system;
and the commission was not appointed to inquire into the
titles to land, but into the system of fraud which prevailed.
No doubt the issuing of the commission had caused dis-
content among the fraudulent proprietors, and he sh rukl
be glad to know where a law did not create discontent
among those upon whom it pressed hard ? Therefore, to
charge the East India Government as having given great
offence generally in this respect, was an exaggeration hardly
compatible with fact. The right hon. gentleman, in the
third place, referred to a subject of the greatest and deepest
importance, the interference with the religion of the na-
tives of India. This was a question of great delicacy. The
right hon. gentleman was wrong on one point, when he
said that this was a new system. That was not the case,
for it had been going on for years. The mutiny at Vellore
was caused by that very system. What was said on that
subject by the historian of the mutiny at Vellore ? The
right hon. gentlemen then read, in a very low voice, an ex-
tract from a book, which was, as far as we could gather,
to the effect " that considering the impossibility of a com-
bination between the Mahometaus of the Deccan with the
Hindoos for purposes of disaffection, there was no reason
to seek for causes of the mutiny ; it was the result of the
obtrusion of religion on the troops by the military authori-
ties; it was an error to suppose that the In liens were so
bigoted with regard to religion as not to admit of contro-
versy ; but compulsion on the subject of religion was what
they dreaded ; it was believed that the Government meant
to compel them to become Christians. This lesson was one
of great seriousness, and ought never to be lost sight of;
there ought never to be any grounds of suspicion given to
the troops that there would be any interference with their
religion. That was no doubt one of the grounds of the
statement of the right hon. gentleman in which ho (Mr. V.
Smith) entirely concurred. The missionaries were always
treated by the natives with the utmost respect, for they
considered them to be only employed in the performance
of a great and sacred duty ; but when missionaries were
found among the members of the civil service and the mili-
tary service; when (there need be no hesitation in men-
tioning hls name) men like Colonel Wheeler were found
preaching in the bazaars, and distributing tracts to the
sepoys, then they not unnaturally believed that there was
an intention to subject them to compulsory conversion ;
and it had been intended to instruct the Governor-General
to interfere and forbid any missionary efforts on the part
of members of the civil and military services. At the time of
the mutiny at Vellore this question excited the greatest in-
terest in this country, and several papers were published on
the subject, one of which was written by a relative of his,
Mr. Sidney Smith, in which it was urged that if this mis-
siouary zeal went on among the troops mutiny would be the
result; and it had turned out that that which bad been pre-
dicted in 1821 had come to pass in 1857. These things bad
arisen, not on account of any action on the part of Govern-
ment, but because of the religious zeal which had been ex-
hibited in this country and in the House of Commons for
the conversion of the natives of Indict. If, before the occur-
rence of this mutiny, he had ventured to say in his place in
Parliament that the proceedings of the missionaries in
India should. be prohibited, such an expression of opi-
nion would have been received with a shout of disapproba-
tion in that house, and the country. It, had been most
erroneously contended that India was a field for missionary
labour; and iu the House of Lords a nobleman remarkable
for his ability and good sense had gone so fares to say that
it would be better to lose India than to attempt to stop
efforts for the conversion of the natives. The right hon.
gentleman mentioned Mr. Halliday ; but the procession
which that gentleman tried to prevent was one which was
repugnant to all humanity, namely, for the purpose of
carrying out the ceremony of swinging on hooks. The hon.
member for Perth had asked him (Mr. V. Smith
a) whether
it was the intention of the Government to put n end to
the custom of swinging on hooks, and be replied that if a
cessation of the custom could be caused by appeals to
humanity and by persuasion, it would be doue away with;
but that decidedly no attempt would be 'wide to put a stop
to it by force. Mr. Halliday proposed, immediately after
the Sontal insurrection, that the whole territory should be
handed over to the missionaries; but be (Mr. I/. Smith)
forbade it. The right hon. gentleman ought to distinguish
in ,his matter between the nets of individuals and the acts
of the Government; au,l so far as the former were con-
cerned, and the results that bad been produced_,. he. eu-.
tirely concurred with the right hon entle man. The right
. gentleman next reverted to 'lege question of annexa-
tion, and again he (Mr. V. Smith) said with regard to au-
nexetion,
to be consiasdehreedhaj saaisdty
rightrh right
hdti
hon. gentleman
.t
ggeoebbnittielecerattneaun
I was regarddhre:sttc annexationeriuedescribed.
tei
unjustodr
in those
ladoption,tyHh
objected to it.
tbthelt e
Dal-
housie in this respect, fur he beganuClonly
e
tions which had taken place under
noble lord. But there were several°wibet oteu:sLste eosasrandyfowhichtelhxaaatt
that, as in the case of Scinde under government obetfore
annexations
Eue b
°rough ;
and indeed the annexation of the Punjaub, though it was
finally settled .by Lord Dalhousie, was begun before his
time.
Mr. DISRA.ELI —That was a conquest.
Mr. V. SMITH—Yes ; but a quarrel was provoked in
order to lead to that conquest, and be thought that observa-
tion equally applied to the annexation of Scinde; nor did he
see that there was so much difference in an annexation
which was the result of a quarrel, and one which was the
result of the system of adoption. While he was speaking
of annexation he must say a word on the subject of Oude,
which was a subject of immense importance. The right
hon. gentleman had said that that was a question which
ought to be treated by itself, and he touched on it but
lightly, and he (Mr. V. Smith) would follow his example.
The) right hon. gentleman said that Oude was annexed in
1856 ; but it was well known all through 1855 that it was
about to be annexed, and from then up to the present time
not a word had been said about the annexation of Oude ;
and that being so, he had a right to consider that the
House of Commons did not think the subject, one of such
pressing interest as to induce them to take np.the matter.
No doubt the annexation of Oude was of great importance,