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

but when the right bon gentleman talked of the rights of
the native princes, ho should remember the wrens of their
subjects. The subjects of the King of Oudo wore kept in
subjection by means of our forces; we had a resident there
and troops also, and we were reap msible for every act done
there. If we had withdrawn from it, the result would
have been complete anarchy ; and Lord Dalhousie, think-
ing that such a state of things as existed in that country
ought not to exist under our rule, thought it better to annex
the kingdom in the manner in which he did. He (Hr. V.
Smith) would not now enter into the question of whether
it was done in the hest manner or not, but he believed it
had been with the least possible offence to the feelings
of every one. The allowance to the S )vereign was large ;
and since the annexation there had been a great improve-
ment in the social conditien of Oude. Theright hon. gentle-
man had assumed that the mutiny in the Bengal army arose
among the Oude sepoys, and that because they were dissa-
tisfied with the annexation of Oude. The right hon. gene le-
man might be correct when he said-that there ware 70,009
Oude sepoys in the Bengal array; he (Hr. V. S.bith) thought
that that statement of the nuelgoar must be erroneous
but ho would take it to be correct. If there was discont •nt
among these sepoys, it was because they had had a mpao-
poly of patronage in Owl°. The Oude sepoy, after he bad
enlisted, if he felt himself aggrieved, communicated with
his friends in Oude, who went to the British resident and
ho got redress at once ; and, in short, he enjoye 1 a mono-
poly of. the re Tress of grievances. But when the right hon.
gentleman said that they were withdrawn Prim their
homes, he could assure him that the contrary was the fact,
for most of them were quartered in Oude, and whatever
discontent they felt was caused by the withdrawal of the
monopoly of patronage which they had hitherto enjoyed ;
but he hoped that when they saw the improved condition
of t heir country under the new system they would be more
contented. One of the commissioners who was sent to
Oude, Mr. Jackson, was now in England, and he brought
with him the latest accounts, which went to show that a
great improvement had taken place in the condition of the
country. He thought he had shown that the attempt of
the right hon. gentleman to connect this subject with the
mutiny had failed. The right hon. gentleman then pro-
ceeded to tell them of the warnings which the Govern-
ment had received on this subject, and finding nothing
about them in the papers, of the meagreness of which he
complained, he said that there must be something kept
back. If he (Mr. V. Smith) could have produced more
papers, he would have done so. He had presented papers,
in accordance with the motion of the Marquis of Clanri-
carde, in the House of Lords, from the Ist April, 1857.
Sir J. PAKINGTON --The enclosures were not pro-
duced. _ . _

Mr. V. SMITH—The enclosures, which were very volu-
minous, were not produced, because there had not been time
to get them panted before the motion of the right hon.
gentleman came in. The right hon. gentleman did not pre-
tend to say that he wanted the papers for which he had
moved ; his only desire being to have an opportunity of
stating his views on this question. When, however, it vas
said that the Government must have had information on this
subject, he begged leave most positively to deny it. The
right hon. gentleman had spoken of the transmission of the
" pancakes" all through India, but the transmission of
them had been confined to the native villages, and they
had not been sent to any of the troops; while as to the
troops refusing their furloughs, it was only in the case of
ono regiment, and that took place in April, 1837, and it
could not be said to have been a warning to the govern-
ment, who did not knew that it had happened until May.
Another allegation of the right hon. gentleman was, that
the troops never thought of revolting until they heard of
the wars with Persia and China, and the consequent with-
drawal of European forces; but if so, the time was pecu-
liarly ill-chosen, for the revolt occurred just when the war
with Persia was over, and the European troops returning ;
and as to the war in China, no European troops had been
sent there from India. As regarded warnings on the sub-
ject, which had been given to the government by the
government of India, he was prepared utterly to deny that
any such warnings hail been given ; not the .lightest indi-
cation of any disaffection among the troops had been sent
home; or appeared in any paper which had been received
by the government. On the contrary, the most perfect
reliance on the troops was expressed, and in that remark-
able minute of Lord Dalhousie, in which, on going through
all the question-I relating to India, the noble lord devoted
only one sentence to the army ; but that was a striking
one, for he stated there had never been an • army in a
better condition than our sepoy army. The right hon.
gentleman still persisted that there had been some such
warning. Well, would he take the farewell address of
Sir William. Gomm? (Ironical cheers.) Ia that address
Sir William Genial said there never was anything like the

discipline of that army—that it was in a most admirable
state -of discipline. Sir William Gomin was tho com-
mander-in-chief appo'nted by the Duke of Wellington, and
during the five years he hebt that office he found no fault
with the army, and said that from their exemplary ob-
servance of discipline an I their actual state of efficiency
they were troops of which any service might be proud.
(Hear.) And thee with respect to what the right hon.
rgietnyt.lenTaahnathagdalidanestcr
ability, but of considerable eccentricity and some incon-
bffi° officer ra as Sir
Cla
roan Napier'sof veryfier y
eminentaatho-
papers might spokeed in
verydata fl a somevo ur -
a° hs lty"ocfYt' aense pibfoeyi'ei.s discoveredop(ilineioaur,B iwnbear.)ewrehei xth;heiens said that in many
respects the sepoy was the finest soldier in the world—that
an a young man he was good in action—that as a veteran ,
he was good in experience —and when he contrasted the
sepoy with the Europeans, ho said that the sepoys boat
them in height although perhaps net in breadth. Sir
Charles Napier had been quoted as an authority with
respect to tho Bengal army. He had served also in the
Bombay army and the Ssinde army. Whilst in the Ben-
gal army he objected to the promotion entirely by seniority
of native officers, and preferred the system which prevailed
in the Bombay army. He, however, never made that
alteration in the Bengal.nraiy, although when commander-
in-chief he might have carried into effect such changes as
he thought desirable. Sir Charles Napier had never come
out as an authority until after the pulsacation of his
memoirs, and he did not believe that the gallant officer had
ever made any remonstrance on the subject to the Court of
Directors or the Indian Government. He knew it might
be said that Sir Charles Napier entertained a sovereign
contempt for the Directors and the Indian Government—
(laughter)—but still it was not fair to reproach them for
not attending to his warnings when they had never re-
ceived any such warnings. (Hear, hear.) Now what
other warnings had the Government received? The right
hon. gentlemen stated that during the Russian war the
Government had to much to do to be expected to attend to
India. At that time the Government were constantly
taunted, not with sending troops to India, but aith not
withdrawing troops from India for the Crimea e and the
hon. member for Devonport stated that twenty-five regi-
ments might 'have been withdrawn. The hon. and gal-
lant member for Westminster (air De L. Evans) stated
that the East India Company's army was an admirable
army, and that a portion of the European force might
have been withdrawn from lndis. A great number
of people were very wise after events had occurred,
and it was easy to say that everybody might have seen cer-
tain things wore forthcoming. But he did not think
many hon. members had given the country any warning
a ith respect to these matters. Quite the contrary. Ho
had asked many eminent and intelligent men who had
come" horse, from India whether they wore aware of any
disaffection amongst the native troops, and had been con-
stantly answered " No." What was the opinion of parlia-
ment on the subject in 18'.3? A committee sat in 1852,
during the administration of Lord Derby. The question
of the Indian army was discussed. The evidence of Lord
'Melville was taken, but nothing was recommended to be
thine with regard to the Indian army. In 1853 the India
Bill was passed, and a clause was inserted giving addi-
tional power to the Board of Control to i ncrease the
Europe's-re army. Now, ,great jealousy had always been
entertained respecting any addition to the Queen's troops
in Indio. That jealousy displayed itself on &Ir. Fox's bill,
and had been felt ever since that time, and the number of
Queen's troops was always limited to 2.),000 men. An
other consideration connected with this subject was that
of finance. The right hon. gentleman stated that the
finance of India had this peculiarity—that it admitted of
no addition. There were no means of diminishing the
expenditure. A late Governor-General, now in the House
of Leeds. said that he had tried every means of dimin-
ishing the expenditure, and found it impossible to tlo so:
The right hon, gentleman went at some length into the
cane's of the late mutiny. He had no desire to blink that
question, but should have considered it unadvi.nable to
enter into it had ho not been forced to do so by the remarks
of the right hon. gentleman. It was quite premature to
say what were the causes of that mutiny. The right hon.
gentleman called it a national revolt. Many people con-
sidered it a military mutiny. With the information
at present in his possession, ho considered it impossible
to say whether it was a military mutiny or national
revolt. If it was a military mutiny it was impossible
to suppose there had not been some mismanagement in
the army. At Meerut there was no deficiency of Euro-
pean troops, and the first intelligence that arrived con-
vinced him that there were a sufficient number to quell
any mutiny, and ho was surprised at what had occurred
afterwards. What had occurred at Meerut was this.
Eight.T;five men were condemned for disobeying orders,
and were manacled in the presence of their comrades.
Now if any suspicira had been entertained that those
comrades would not submit to such a thing there ought
to have been a sufficient number of European troops to
compel them, or the step ought not to have been taken.
He considered it altogether unaccountable that there had
been no-pursuit of these men over a hoe of road 35 miles
in extent, and as level as the floor on which he was then
standing. He could not help saying that he believed there
must have been some mismanagement in the affair.
(Hear, hear.) One of the principal causes assigned for the
mutiny was the withdrawal of officers for civil and staff
purposes. That system had been going on for 60 years ;
last year, in order to obviate the difficulty, an additional
captain had been sent out to each regiment„ ,Many offi-
cers contended that the system which had been so long in
existence was perfectly defensible, and that the parties
thus detached acquired a general knowledge which made
them more useful. Besides, the presence of officers in
great "washers was! not always considered an advantage.
It was not to the number of officers withdrawn that the
evil was to be attributed. He believed that the natives
tone e
someTbeh
een
sometimesofinformedh
were not so much impressed with the idea that we wanted
f
to Christianise them as to de-nationalise and de-Indianise
hmt.
oa
they
position o
s o
cp
spoke
thatrkeatpartiesootmf el
tashhst
late
was Cylsee vapei
o. very much
h earsthere
had, changed.bee n
a
He h
great iseverence between the officers and the men, that the
contemptuous,nigge "niggers"
d
that
(" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) He was glad to find that on
a recent occasion the chairman of the East India Company
had strongly impressed this point upon the minds of the
young men whom he was addressing. There was another
Lorderd
the
Chanad Canning
beentg alteration
hamti i
madeoa ens
go fvh
ehe had
Bombay
meant a
n d
Madras been informed did not affect the
mattermsoal ddiee rh
soldiers
nw at thetichil e
enlist-
menttime—he
in the Bengal army, The alteration had been
n,and
given
f.
nombealnievehdadthsattatedthat
remonstrance
it in the Bengal army. The right hon.
i against
gentle-
man
by objecting to certain processions. If any offence
had been given, Lord Canning had lately amply compen-
sated for it by etating his determination not to allow the
processions of the natives to be interfered with, and he had
ihcehar reflected the
th ea
put his veto on an act relating to the suburban police,
highestet
of creditlBs3 a o
newn
lord. a
which would have interfered with such processions. That
was
legisla-
tive council had been established, which was endowed
with powers which did not exist before. That body had
brought forward measures for the purpose of promoting
(t He PC
a which
European and English objects without any reference to
the natives, and he trusted that what bad taken place
would be a warning to them not to meddle with the reli-
gion of the people. The right hon. gentleman had alluded
to the question of education, and he (Mr. V. Smith) should
say that he did not wonder that the natives, who bad been
accustomed to see women condemned to the most complete
seclusion, should have been startled at the introduction of
a system of female education. The truth, however, was,
that it would be impossible for England altogether to re-
nounce that policy of improvement which had already
led to the removal of such practices as the sacrifices to
Juggernaut. Cut th 9 same policy had giveu, rise to con-