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

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q.: IV ;..i PA PE It
...,._)_,.r i ;,-- .<ll6k,
x-re• 4 A.. z 1:& `l-1z
feet was he had got civil empleyrn •
~te,lie-gs:';. etie
versed in it, but if recalled to IV 7elit"t" -.. 1:, ,
barely know a men in it. This st te If His, e-at , -71
entirely igre red by the Court of Di co ,-; se...,C.,,Shnlry
May, 1556, a statement of Lord Dalhoq.a waseitilfid b". :`-
the Court, in which the Governor-Genernistarathi ' .6
military branch of governmenthad received full attention
and improvement, and yet 40,000 men, without any as.
signed cause, deserted their range. Could it be believed
that there was not a sufficient reason for this ? In the
papers laid before Parliament that day was a deepatch
from Viscount Canning, who assumed the government in
Marche 1856, calling attention to a complaint made by
Lord Dalhoustenix months before of the paucity,of offl-
cere for the public service; but in the interval no remedy
had been supplied. On the other hand, an increased enm•
ploy went of officers on the civil service had been sano-
ti.)ned by the Curt of Directors, and the Governor-Ge-
neral had been authorised to take away every field officer
and a large proportion of the captains. The answer of the
Court of Directors was that, owing to the state of ;their
finances, they could appointoneadditienal captain to, each
regiment. And yet this Government, at the time they
were complaining of their finances, authorised et diminu-
tion of the soldiers. Such neglect of an army was never
before witnessed. What were the appropriate remedies for
this state of things he could not say. He had seen very
wild notion propo ended—as theta!! higlacas te Brahmins
should be expelled the army, and that 60,000 European
troops should be sent to India. Tho history of the In•
dian army showed that the high.caste Brahmins bad
been recruited, because they were men of superior Wel.
ligence, and would serve to counterbalance the Mabome-
tans. Ou this point Sir John Malcolm bore conclusive
testimony to the advantage of having Rajbpoots and
Brahmins in the army, observing at the same time that
this instrument must be carefully managed, otherwise it
would become one 4f weakness instead of strength. Sir
C. Napier had also pointed out the necessity of the
sepoys being properly trained and officered. This oould
not be the case when the bulk of the officers were drawn
away to make their fortune elsewhere. Much had been
said in favour of the irregular troops, but they were sub
ject to precisely the same influences as the sepoys.
They were ex.remely brave troops. On one occasion
they fought from noon till eight the next morning, and
won the battle ; but because they were not allowed to
plunder as they wished, they all went home the next
day. When they talked of bringing 60,000 EuroPsa
troops into India he would ask who was p 3 pity.thacost
Such a step would have a great effect on the army st
home, as well as that employed for garrison purposes.
With every respect for the prolific powers of this come-
try, he did not not believe it could supply men enough
for our own army at home and abroad, and keep down
150 millions in India. The fact was that British India
belonged to the British Crown : it ought to be adminis-
tered by a Minister of the Crown, who should be re-
sponeible to Parliament. It was said that this would
open a door to party influence ; but the same argument
would apply against all Parliamentary Government.
Parliament had interfered in the affairs of India before
now, as in the cases of Clive and Warren Hastings
Has ings was a great statesman ; but.theeParliamentary
supervision E xka-cised over his Government was a great
advantage. The sauce was the case in the time of Lord
Melville. He trusted that the Government would /nee
Parliament next session with a plan for carrying out
this object. It they failed in this duty he was confident
that Parliainent would take the matter into their own
hands and put a stop to the disgraceful practice of trans-
ferring the etli?ers of the army to civil employmet ta.
The Duke of ARGYLL said the noble lord was pro-
bably aware that, since he had placed his motion on the
paper, Lord Palmerston had laid on the table of the
other house the papers for which he asked ; those papers
would of course be communica'ed to their lordships;
and so far the noble marquis's object would be attained.
Whatever might be the duty or the privilege of an indi-
vidual member of that house to enter into questions of
that kind, it would be highly imprudent in members of
the Government to enter upon premature discussions of
the very difficult question to which his noble friend had
referred. It would require very long and anxious in-
quiry and care al consideration. Tue necessity of this
weuld be more impressed on their minds when- they
looked at the different suggestions made in the public
journals as to the causes which had led to this great out-
break in the Indian army. With some exceptione it
mielit be raid that those suggestions took their colour
from the political or personal feelings of those by whom
they were made. Within the Last fortnight, even, one
suggedien had been reale, coming frqin a person whose
prejudices were evidently strong against the noble earl
opposite an I that distiguished general whose opieions
bad been recently so much quoted, Sir C. Napier, . and
it was to this eiLct--that all these evils had arisen from
the unjust manner in which at different times the Go-
vernment of India had endeavoured to tax the states of
India, and he alluded to the injustice of collecting
arrears—an opinion which would have been much modi-
fied by a perusal of the life of Sir C. Napier. Another,
whose political opinien3 were much opposed to those of
Lord D dliousite wrote that the recent annexation of
Oude vas the great source of disaffection in ladia. An-
other man wrote, on the contrary, that the keeping up
of so many native states was a great cause of the weak-
ness of our Indian empire. He was hippy to be able to
relate a circumstance, information of which had been
brought by the very last mail, which might show the
animus and disposition with which Lord Canning acted
tewerchs the restive states. Not many months ago, the
Rajah of G ealior visited Calcutta ; Lord Canning re-
ceived him with very marked attention, gave him every
possible honour that cull be shown to a native sove-
reign, and for the t xteut to which he carried tho,e honours
he was actually attacked by a considerable portion of the
press in Calcutta. Before the Rejeh left Calcutta-Lord
Canning addressed him and told Seim that he trusted to
prove how much mare satisfactory it would .be to the
Government of England to see the native states governed
well by their own rulers, than to take possession of them
in the name of Ehglane.. (lieu., bear) He believed
that that was the spirit in which Lord Canning
would always wish to deal with the native States. They
had now heard that one of the very filet princes who
had put his forces at the disposal of the English Govern-
tnent to suppress the revolt was this very Rajah of
Gwalier, who had been received with such honour by
Lord Canning. o;her writers said that one greet mistake
had been in not sufficiently keeping up the supremacy
and dignity of the English Government. Others con-
tended that it was owing to our not coining to the suc-
cour of the ryots against the zeinindars. At the begin-
ning of the present cession a very important petition
was presented to their lordships, complaining of the op-
pre-ion which the ryots suffered at the hands of the
s ..
eanaindars, and calling for assistance—bet this was met
by a counter-petition stating that the evils of which they
complained had arisen from their own conduct in at-

tempting to enforce Christianity. These were specimens
of tlie various contradict iry opinions which had been
expressed in the last few weeks re:pecting the causes of
this great Indian calamity. Another suggestion, made
just now by the noble marquis, had not been borne out
y fair argument. Reny cause was more generally agreed
upon than another, it was the small proprrtion of Euro-
pean officers who were serving with their regiments ;
and the noble marquis referred this rather to the direc-
tors of the East Indian Company than to the Indian
Government at home. His decided impression was that
that great evil of the Indian army could not be traced
to that particular branch of the Indian Government. It
was perfectly plain that it was rather an object with the
Court of Directors to increase their military patronage
than other vri•e. They could have no objection to increase
the number of officers in the army, so long as the pa-
tronage continued in their hands ; they had every in-
ducement from selfish motives to increase the number of
officers. But the sma'l number of officers was clearly
connected with the extension of those other duties to
which they had been called away; and how had that
arisen i Certainly, in a great measure, from the large
extension of our territories during the last 30 or 40
years. Was it true then—could it be said with justice
that those various accessions of territory bad been
mainly urged on by the directors of the East India
Company 1 He believed the reverse to be the fact.
He believed that the traditionary tendency of that
body, and the genera character of their direc-
tion, had been against the annexation of foreign terri-
tory, and that the great annexation of territory—the
result of necessity and circumstances—bad taken place
under the direct action of those English statesmen whom
the English Government bad sent out as Governors-
general of India. (Hear, bear.) He said this in answer
to the statement of his noble friend. This great cala-
mity was not traceable, either particularly or generally,
to teat branch of the Indian Government. In some of
the noble marquis's observations he entirely concurred.
He hoped that the panio which had arisen from this
great mutiny inl ndiarlatuen
would not
toootl ly to abandoneandasttbieEnglishpub-
he, or the English pa
that confidence which they had so long shown in the
character of the native army. (Hear.) It did not
necessarily follow that this outbreak in the Indian army
was eiannected with any deep-laid scheme against Bri-
tish dominion in that country. He would hardly venture
to express an opinion. There could be no doubt that
there had been some mismanagement ; but even amongst
civilised nations great movement] at times took place as
if by some sudden impulse, and extended themselves
with remarkable rapidity in every direction. Such bad
been the case in Europe in 1848, when the English
and as i
at l a
rwas,. bTehcearapereat he
no t
nu
ub
be cr
et
aokf
ebnlet'ansxtaiebtlye
considerable on
vs
ei
dr ne
rma
mighttrthusuieprs, prove to be the effect of one of
tinholnseda miomenay panics, and not the result of any great
organised conspiracy against the British Government.
(Hear.) The news they were awaiting from India might,
however, show that the evil wad more deep-seated; but
he could not think that they were at present called upon •
to abandon the idea that the native army, under a better
system and with greater precautions, might not be rein-
stated. (Hear.) A t any rate, it was their clear duty to
put down the insurrection ; and he was sure their lord-
ships would not be prepared to submit to the loss of
that great empire which had conferred so much glory on
our arms, and the abandonment of which would be so
great a shame to ourselves, and so great a calamity to
mankind. (Hear.)
The motion was then agreed to.
THE SUCCESSION DUTIES ACT.
Lord REDESDALE presented a petition complaining
of the manner in which the succession duties were levied
by the Board of Inland Revenue ; and expressed au opi-
nion both that the wording of the act was so complex
and doubtful that it required amendment, and also that
the authorities at Somerset-house placed too harsh
construction upon its provisions.
Earl GRANVILLE defended alike the a* and.those
by whom it was administered;" - The points mentioned
by the petitioner bad all been raised in that house during
the committee on the bill ; and their lordships had de-
liberately adopted the enactments iloroplained of. As for
the measure being too harsh, be might remind their lord-
ships that although Mr. Gladstone had calculated th.
income that would be derived from it at 2,000,0001. a
year, and although some of their lordships bad expromad