The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-15 00:00:00

plan, notwithstanding lee must have felt that responsi-
bility was materially augmented by the difference of
opinion between himself and the French general in com-
mand. It was a satisfactory feature of the case to find tl]lt
the event itself amply justified Sir Hope Giant in the course
he took, because it was found that the north forts, as he
calculated, constituted the key of the whole position, that
these once in our power, we commanded the whole of the
other forts ; whereas, had the attack been made on the south
fort, as proposed by General Montauban, and that fort had
been taken, the invading forces would have been cannonaded
by the fire of the other forts. He mentioned this fact lie-
cause he thought it was greatly to the credit of Sir Hope
Grant that he showed not only the courage and bravery, in
the field for which he was so pre-eminently distinguished,
but that he should have taken upon himself the immense
responsibility of acting upon his own judgment in a matter
of so much importance. At the same time, it reflected
equally great credit upon General Montauban, that, not-
withstanding the difference of opinion between himself and
Sir Hope Grant on this point, that difference did not in 'the
slightest degree diminish the cordiality and good under-
standing which previously subsisted, and which charac-
terised the way in which they acted together afterwards, •
and which no doubt led to the satisfactory termination of
the war. With respect to that war, the events which
occurred after the taking of the Taku forts were, to his re-
gret, not of a nature to give Admiral Hope and the navy
an opportunity of faking any striking or brilliant part.
No doubt, whatever he had to do was done well ; but
it was, of course, a matter of regret to the navy
that they were not enabled to take a more pronii-
ninent part, and thus, in some measure, retrieve the
temporary disaster they experienced at the first attack
upon these forts. Another point on which, however, he
could most cordially congratulate their lordships was the
good order, and the good .conduct shown by our army in
their march to and in returning from Pekin, and 'the
friendly feeling vvhichwas shown to them by the native
population. They were, in fact, not received as an invading
enemy, but as a friendly force, and their reception by the
people appeared to him to hold out a strong hope that the
success of the expedition indicated success also when we
came to carry out upon a (larger scale the commercial ob-
jects contemplated by the treaty. It was,•indeed, most
gratifying to find that our troops were everywhere so *'el
received by the country people. When. Mr. Parkes went for-
ward he found, on •hie march a local commissariat in one
place which had been provided for the Tartar troops ; but
on the arrival of our troops the local commissariat trdus r.
-
ferred their services to the invading troops, and continued
afterwards to supply them amply with all that they tre-
quired. (Hear.) It might be said-to be the result of sub-
mission to a superior force, but he could not help thinking
that it was owing fully as much to the friendly feeling dis-
played by our troops, to their respect for property, and to
the good order which characterised their conduct. lie could
only hope that when extended commercial intercourse with
China was established, under the treaty, those who were
engaged in carryinigitt @n would.keep up the good charac-
ter and act with thee.same good order and friendly feeling
which had distinginahed our troops. (Hear.) He would
not say one word upon the other bearings of the war. 'He
considered the question before their lordships that night
was a purely military question. They were only called upon
to pass a vote of thanks to the faces whose services had
brought the war to a satisfactory termination, and therefore
he would not enter into,any theory either as to the causes
or the probable Nara consequences of the war. Undoubt-
edly though the future of China was somewhat gloomy,
there was ample room under the treaty for the opening
up of our • commerce upon
,a much larger scale. Upon.
one point he could not but express his regret,•namely,
that Lord Elgin should have, thought it necessary to
demOlish the magnificent palace of the Emperor. He.
knew well the reasons which had been urged for that
course. It was true that some of our countrymen had
been disgracefully kidnapped while under the protection
of a flag of ' truce, that they had been disgracefully
treated, and that some of 'them had died under that treat-
ment. It was therefore right that some reparation should
have been made by the Chinese for these outrages, and, there
were difficulties as to the shape which that reparation should
take. Had it been made aemere matterpf pecuniary com-
pensation, it would have lowered:the national character—
had we demanded that the real murderers should be given
up, we should only have hed some poor wretches delivered.
sip who were guiltless of the crime, and upon whom, we
could not have taken vengeance, while had we demanded
the surrender of Prince San-ko-lin-sin, the real author of
all the outrages, the demand Would have been evaded.
(Hear, hear.) Nevertheless he must say that his own mind
was not satisfied with what he considered the unnecessary
destruction of the Palace of Yuen-ming-Yuen. He didaiot'
think it was either a politic or'a satisfactory measure. ,Of
course he spoke with great deference to the judgment of
Lord Elgin, who had throughout those transactions shown
such firmness, energy, and ability—(hear, hear)—but, he
could not, help thinking that the destruction of the palace
was a mistake in point of judgment and a mistake in point
of policy. (Hear, hear.) With respect to the motion pro-
posed by his noble friend opposite, he was perfectly satisfied
with it, and he believed that he might say their lordships,
without any distinction of party, entirely concurred in the
course which had been taken by her Majesty's Government
on that occasion, and in the propriety and justice of ;the
motion which had been submitted to theirlordships. (Hear.)
The Duke of CAMBRIDGE said that after the full and
ample explenations whieh had been given by his noble
friend at the head of the War Department and the noble
earl with respect to the motion, it only remained for
to express' his views upon 'one or two military points con-
nected with it. •In the 'flist place, he could not but think
that we had now found out that when this country was
unfortunately compelled to go to war, the sooner it an
be brought to' a conclusion' the better; but that feu
only be effected by the supply of ample and abundant
means for cariiing it on. The Duke of Wellingron ad
said that England could not afford to have a little War ; 'but
though it might be said that this was a little war, the Pre-
parations for it were made' upon a great scale, and the con-
sequence was speedy and complete success. He must say
on the part of the army that he had to express his full
satisfaction at the way in which the army had been sup-
ported by the civil officers of the war department. Every-
thing had been found ready when wanted. But while he
stated so much was due to his noble friend at the head
of the war department, it would be unjust and improper to
omit saying that a great part of the merit and success of •
the expedition was due to his noble friend who sat on the
cross-benches (Lord Clyde). (Cheers.) The whole of the
troops engaged in that expedition were selected and lent
from India under the.orders of his noble friend Lord Clyde,
and to him, therefore,. must be attributed a great part of its
guccesse • There were some •Other military points to which
he desired to advert. This was the first time we had had
a practical opportunitY of effectivelY testingeoneof the most
wonderful inventions -of ,moderti. -times. He meant the
was
in guns.
lie
had spoken, to the bffiCei who as
in command of a bette'rye and he said the stiotig gun
was thee-gun he could wish to go all over the world with, •
and that in whatever position it might be placed the result
was satisfactory. It had been said that alterations int the
gun were required before it could be said that it was quite
satisfactory, and certainly to some extent that might be
. true ; but at the same time the troops who had had epe-
rience of it in its present ,shape said it was the most perfect
of any arm of the kind that could be imagined. With respect
to the merits and behaviour of the officers connected with .
the expedition itself, the conduct of that gallant officers, Sir
Hope Grant, had been so fully spoken of, that he wbuld
simply content himself with saying that there never'was
an officer who snore' efficiently conducted the operations
under his command. The greater credit• was due to him,
because, as was well known, all combined operations
under a divided command were more difficult than where
there was only a single command. The fact that a dif- •
ference of opinion arose between Sir Hope Grant and the
French general in command, in which the former thought
it to;be his duty to act on his own opinion, had bietensr
wkeann
of by his noble friend as redounding to his c
•
satisfactory to find that that difference of opinion
disturbed nor interrupted the good feeling an had neither
good der-
standing which existed between
Generalin Montauban and
most satisfactory oc-
cSui Sir
rile
nocpee,
be Grant.eaus e
whenHe n
said a
ti
na t was
independent loom-
nd could o d
interruption
a
feeling,Yo rtant practical point with-
out
both parties deserved
all the credit that could bci awarded to them, and he was
happy to add that nothing lanan of
g an
good
p
could exceed the good feeling
which had been shown by v our allies. Both the French and
the .
-
English troops had vied with each other in their at-
tempts to do their duty to the countries which had sent
them
forth on that distant expedition. (Cheers.) Another
point that required notice was, that a large portion of the
s employed on the expedition were native troops sent
fromtr India. After what had been the state of the army in
India but a comparatively short time since, it might have
been thought that there was some danger in sending these
native troops on so distant a service, but he was happy to
say nothing could have exceeded the good conduct and the
good feeliug of the native troops from India employed on
this service. (Hear, hear.) With respect to the services
of the navy he was sure that it was animated by the same
ardour and the same desire to distinguish itself as thesutay
and the only reason why it had not succeeded was, thfit the
same opportunities were not offered to it. Indeed, nothing
could exceed the gallantry and zeal of the officers in both
services. The navy had done their duty in China. It was
true that they had not the same opportunity as the annoy to
display their use and energy, but if it, were not for the navy
the army would not have been enabled to obtain the glori-
ous rieult which they had achieved. (Hear, hear.) His
Royarilighness, after referring to the gallant servicee of Sir
Robert Napier, expressed his deep indignation at the. con-
duct of the Chinese Government in reference to MA. Nor-
man, Captain Brabazon, Mr. Bowlby, and the other
prisoners taken by the Chinese. He thought it to be his
duty to say so much upon an occasion like the preseeet.
Lord CLYDE, who was but indistinctly heard in e_
gallery, was understood to pass a high erilogit oenncitnia:
groat services of Sir Hope Grant when he was In India,
groat
and he had therefore great gratificatie,n in learPir4
urage
CO' and
,
that officer had displayed the same) energy'
skill in China. He entirely coney:trod the vote of thanks.
Earl GREY said that hewas sti Il of opinion that the
war with China was most unjust, be t our army and navy
a Government in
were not responsible for tAe policy of I the