The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1859.

that he would state the course he intended to pursue, in
his statement.

VOTE OF THANKS TO LORD CANNING AND
THE INDIAN ARMY.

Lord STANLEY—I believe, sir, that by the practice
and courtesy of this house, on occasions like the present, a
resolution such as I have to propose stands first on the
paper. (Hear, hear.) There are some occasions, sir, on
which all men, even those most gifted, must deeply lament
the deficiency of those qualities necessary to bring before
the house a subject such as that it is now my duty to lay
before you. It is a subject not for argument, not for
reason, not for logical controversy; it is a subject which
appeals to the deepest and warmest feelings of all whom I
address, and which appeals to the patriotism and public
spirit of every man in this country. (Hear, hear.) I
never rose, sir, to address you under a more discouraging
sense of my own deficiency ; but, on the other hand, I
never rose under a more firm conviction than I now enter-
tain, that whatever may be wanting in the statement I
shall lay before you, however feebly and inefficiently I may
perform my task, still all my deficiencies will be amply sup-
plied, and more than supplied, by the sympathy, cordiality,
and unanimous expression of public feeling which votes of
this kind never fail to command. (Hear, hear.) I believe
I may now congratulate the house and the country, after
two years of public peril and national alarm, on the com-
plete restoration of our military ascendancy in India, and
the re-establishment of peace in that unhappy country.
(Hear, hear.) There may still be some local disturbances—
there may still be some unsettled districts—yet every mail
and every telegram brings the news of the submission of
some insurgent chief, under the terms of her Majesty's pro-
clamation, and the dispersion of some body of rebels lately
in arms, and the restoration of order in some district. The
struggle through which we have passed has cost the lives
of many thousands of Englishmen—it has inflicted enor-
msus suffering on the people of the country, and has aug-
mented the debt and heavily burthened the resources of
India : it has done more than that, it has for a time exas-
perated and embittered the rivalry of races. But against
these great and serious evils there are some compensating
advantages to set off. We have come through the struggle
with our military reputation enhanced in the eyes of other
nations and our own—(hear, hear)--enhanced by national
efforts and strength put forth under great difficulties, and
by individual heroism displayed when public success was
hopeless. (Hear, hear.) Never before, not even when
Mysore was conquered, not even when Tippoo Saib fell in
the capture of Seringapatam, not even when the Pindarees
were put down, not even when the loss of the English army
in Affgbanistan was avenged and the English standard
planted a second time on the walls of Cabul and Candahar,
never at any former period of our historyhave we impressed
so strongly on the Asiatic mind the conviction of our neces-
sary perseverance and of the unconquerable energy of the
British race. (Hear, hear.) In that conviction it gives us
cause to rejoice, not selfishly, not in vain glory, nor with
an exclusive reference to the interests of this country; but
we can rejoice for the sake of India itself, because the exis-
tence of that conviction will become a guarantee for the
maintenance of peace in India, enable us to indulge the hope
that in the long calm which will follow such a storm, India
may be able to repair her losses, to recruit her energies, to
readjust her finances, to improve her administration,
and to develop, as they were never developed before, her
almost incalculable material resources. (Hear, hear.) Sir,
if lam right in the judgment I have formed, if military
difficulties are at an end, and only difficulties of administra-
tion and finance remain, I am sure the house will feel it is
not premature on our part to vote our thanks to those in civil
and military employments under whose wise directions, and
by whose skill and courage this state of things has been
brought about. (Hear, hear.) With regard, sir, to Lord
Canning, he has been Governor-Generalsince the beginning,
and beforethe beginning, of the late insurrection; there has
devolved on him an amount of labour, anxiety, and respon-
sibility such as has rarely fallen to the lot of any British
statesman. (Cheers.) No one in India or in England can
deny, that in the circumstances under which he wasplaced,
he has exhibited the courage and humanity which belong to
an English statesman. There may have been, as there
always will be, a diversity of opinion as to isolated acts of
his policy, but if I now refer to this diversity, I do so not
only to impress on us that this is the time by a mark of
honour and respect to show that though there may have
been a diversity of opinion as to isolated acts of policy, there
can be no dispute as to his prudent and temperate wisdom.
Sir, he resisted the vindictive cry for blood at a time even
when it met with too much sympathy in this country. He
acted throughout in harmony with the military authorities.
He remained at his post amidst every difficulty in the
darkest hour of calamity. He did not despair, and I think
the house will feel that both as the officer placed in the
highest position, and personally on account of the labour
and responsibility whch have devolved on him, Lord Can-
ning is entitled to the thanks of this house. (Cheers.) Sir,
on Lord ;Elphinstone, as Governor of Bombay, there de-
volved a responsibility more limited in scope, but still most
serious and important. To be satisfied of that fact we need
only look to the position of the Presidency of Bombay, with
Scinde on one extreme, a province recently acquired, sur-
rounded ontwooralmost three sides by natives like the war-
like Beeloochee tribes ; and if we look to the east we find a
vast aggregation of native states inhabited by the Rajhpoot
race, warlike, independent, free, and likely to sympathise
with those in rebellion against us. If we look within
the Presidency we find a vast variety of races, with a
large Mahommedan element. It will be seen that the duty
of Lord Elphinstone in protectinghis presidency alike against
aggression from without and rebellion from within was one
of no ordinary difficulty. In discharge of that duty he has
been vigilant, sagacious, and indefatigable. He gave the
troops every assistance, and did not hesitate, even in a time
of great emergency, almost to denude the Boinbay Presi-
dency of European troops to send them to districts where
they were needed. I believe I only express the iitiversal
opinion in England and in India when I say that no gover-
nor ever returned to this country with a reputation more
enhanced by his conduct in service than Lord Elphinstone.
In the list of names in the vote the name of Lord Harris
dOes not occur, and I am anxious to explain how it does not.
The omission is nut intended as any reflection on Lord
Harris. Until compelled from failing health to resign his
post, he discharged his duty sedulously and well; but the
vote I now propose is not intended as a vote of thanks for
services in the way of ordinary administration, but it is a
vote for services in the suppression of the disturbances in
India. During the year 1858 there were not only
no serious disturbances, but even no serious alarm
of any apprehended disturbance in the Presi-
dency of Madras or in the district of Southern India; and
therefore Lord Harris has not enjoyed the same opportu-
nities as were possessed by Lord Elphinstone and Lord
Canning. That is the reason—l need hardly tell the house
the only reason—why his name does not appear. There are
still, sir, some other names to which I think the house will
be willing to pay a mark of respect. The year 1858 was not
like 1857. The great name and reputation of Sir John
Lawrence can gain no accessories of honour by the events
of the last fourteen months. (Hear.) Sir John Lawrence,
notwithstanding failing health, in spite of medical advice,
with a constitution shaken by thirty years' service in India,
has, with an energy and decision nothing could shake, re-
mained at his post to organise and arm new levies, and de-
spatch them to their places, to watch over the once turbulent
population under his control, and the even more dangerous
races beyond the Affghan frontier, and he has turned a pro-
vince which was regarded as our greatest danger into a
source of security and strength. (Hear, hear.) Sir John
Lawrence refused to quit his government until assured
by the position of affairs that his services were no longer
required. (Hear, hear.) He has within the last few days
arrived in this country, to take part in the home adminis-
tration of India, to adorn it by his presence and instruct it
by his counsel. Ido hope that the reception given him by
the people of this country will be such as is due to his
splendid services. (Cheers.) I think nothing. could be
more appropriate that that the first news he receives on his
return shall be, that now, for the second time, the Parlia-
ment of England, speaking, as it always will, the senti-
ments of the Commons of England, recognises by an unani-
mous vote the value of his services. Sir It. Hamilton, by
his diplomatic exertions, by his fine counsel, maintained the
influence of England amongst those independent states to
which I have just now adverted. No man, I venture to say,
has rendered better service, by the information he commu
cated in the most useful manner to the generals in the field.
I need not point out to the house how seriously the diffi-
culties of last year would have been increased if the vast
population under the native rulers, encouraged and aided
by their Governments, had taken part against us ; with
hardly an exception the chiefs remained loyal and faithful
to the British rule. Though Ido not wish to deprive them
of the credit, still some part of it must be reflected on the
officer in whom the diplomatic affairs of that part of India
centred, Sir Robert Hamilton. While on this part of the
subject, it ie only just I should advert to another eminent
officer whose name is not mentioned in the vote—Colonel
Davison, the resident at Hyderabad. We all know how
steadily and faithfully our ally the Nizam has adhered to
the British cause, but we are bound to pay a mark of re-
spect to the officer who has done so much to maintain
British influence at his court. (Hear.) Mr. Frere, whose
name stands next in the vote, was at the head of an outly
ing and comparatively recently acquired province—Scinde ;
but he governed it by a very small display of physical force,
and a very small amount of European aid, and at the same
time he was indefatigable, in times of great difficulty, in
sending all kinds of support to the places where
operations were going on. He has ruled the pro-
vince of Scinde with firmness, with judgment, and
with success, neither on the one hand unduly deferring to
native prejudices, nor on the other hand harshly and in-
considerately going against native ideas. And he has
had his reward ; for Scinde throughout this insurrection had
been tranquil and loyal. I said that Mr. Frere was one of
two men by whom that 'province has been kept in peace.
The other of those two, unhappily, is not now where he can
be rewarded by the thanks of this house, or by any expres-
sion of national gratitude. But it is not right that the name
and memory of General Jacob should pass away from the
public mind without some parting recognition of genius so
remarkable, and of character so exalted. (Hear.) General
Jacob was in almost every respect a pattern of what an
officer commanding native troops ought to be. His men
would have gone anywhere or done anything for him. With
such an officer no difficulties of caste were likely to arise,
because he trusted his men, and they trusted him. They
well knew, too, that he never spared himself, and that if he
gave an order which was disagreeable to their feelings, it
was not given in wantonness or in ignorance, but because it
was required for the good of the service. (Hear.) General
Jacob preserved peace on the widest frontier of India, and
created a flourishing settlement out of that frontier, and
upon that settlement he laid out such private means as he
had acquired. He died at the age of five-and-forty, worn
out and exhausted by excessive labour, having given all
that he had—even his life—to the service of his country.
(Cheers.) During a great part of last year Mr. Mont-
gomery, having the advantage of a long previous training
in the Punjaub, administered the civil affairs of that pro-
vince. He was left, and wisely left, with his large powers
completely unfettered ; and I am only saying that which I
have heard from every quarter, and which I believe to be
strictly true, when I say that to his tact, to his temper, to
his skill, to his good management, and to his indefatigable
personal exertion, we owe it in a considerable degree that so
many of the great landowners of Oude—those of them I mean
who were compromised in the rebellion—were induced to
make terms with the British Government. (Cheers.) Con-
sidering the great importance of the military operations in
Oude, and considering how much the success of these ope-
rations is attributable to the conduct of the civil admini-
stration, I think the house will not be inclined to refuse an
acknowledgement of the services of Mr. Montgomery.
(Cheers.) Sir, I come now to the strictly military operations
which have been carried on during the last 12 months. I
wish first to say that in mentioning the services of officers
who were engaged in those operations, I shall not attempt
to give anything like a detailed or connected narrative
of the military transactions in India. Ido not pretend
to the requisite familiarity with military subjects ; and I ap-
prehend that even for those who do possess a familiar ac-
quaintance with military topics, so many and so various
have been the operations which have taken place, many of
them having occurred simultaneously in different parts of
India, it would be hardly possible within a reasonable com- •
Pass to bring the whole of them before the house in, a simple