The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-17 00:00:00

And this very night the Chancellor of the Exchequer
gets up and asks you, sir, to leave the chair in order that
be may present the bill to the House of Comment).
ask the House of C ,mmons did anything of that sort
ever take place before. (Hear.) I recollect being in this
house upon a solemn occasion. The war declared against
Russia was declared in this house, and I shall not forget
my own emotions, nor the appearance of the house on
that occasion. When the person who officially made that
declaration made it at the bar every countenance wore a
solemn expression. They felt that England was entsrien
into a contest which involved great interest, which
might lead to disastrous consequences, and they felt that
it was a solemn, and, if I may use the phrase, an awful
occasion. But the war with Russia was not a more awful
or more solemn event than the war with Persia. Persia,
indeed, was an inferior power to Russia, but the conse-
quences we now see. The mutiny at Delhi may be traced
to denuding our Indian empire of forces on that occasion,
and when they declared warand determined on that expe-
dition to Persia they ran tLe risk of losing our Indian em-
pire, and diminishing for ever the power of England. I
say that these two occasions are equally important, and if
the war with Russia were important and should be com-
municated to this house, so was the war with Persia,
considering the war which followed it, and of which I
say the Government had notice. I have no doubt the
noble lord, if he deigns to answer me, will say that all
this is past, that the war with Persia has come to an
end, that peace bas been made, and that our relations
with Persia are upon the best possible footing. I am
not going to enter into the question of our relations with
Persia. That is not my cause of complaint. My com-
plaint is that the House of Commons upon this occasion
has been entirely passed over ; that the House of Com-
mons, exercising the privilege of providing for the ex-
pense,' of an expedition, has a right to inquire into the
principles upon which the expedition is undertaken and
the expenses are incurred. I say that a more contemp-
tuous course than this was never pursued toward-, the
House of Commons: (Hear.) We are now called upon
in the coolest manner' possible to supply nearly a million
of money. The house is called upon, on the ipse dixi of
the noble lord, to furnish sums, and no explanation is
offered of the expenses incurred. I say, if the House of
Commons is prepared to undergo this insulte--for insult
it is—we had bester shut our doors and go back to our
constituents. (Cheers.) I know the power of the noble
lord. I know that he has—God knows how—obtairnol
in the country a wonderful ooinion. Why the people
concede to bun that opinion I cannot for the life of me
imagine, but I fully acknowledge that he is allowed to
do things which others dare not do. Fancying I have
duty to perform, I will, however, raise my voice, feeble
as tbat voice is, and call upon my countrymen to point
their finger at the conduct of the noble lord. I point
my finger at the conduct of the noble lord, and I say no
conduct since the House of Commons has been a House
of Commons was ever so insulting as that which the
noble lord has pursuedson this occasion. When Chad-is
I. came down to this house in order to seize five of its
members he certainly did commit a breach of its privi-
-1 ges, but he had gone through various stages in his
progress towards that point ; and the great result of all
the revolutions connected with this house has been that
no course of conduct can be pursued by the Gevernment
over which we have not an immediate control through
the finances of the country. lam not at all surprised at
the conduct of the nobli lord. It is, the result of the great
confidence which he has in himself, but I think late events
one ht to have served as a warning to him. The state of
India at the present moment is one of the most striking
evidences of the mistakes of the noble lord. Events are
occurring there which involve the interests of England.
It we lose our empire in India—and we may lose it—
(cries of "No, no !" from the Opposition)—l understand
that exclamation, it is a thoroughly English "No."
(Cheers.) No man can join in the feeling which dictates
it more heartily than I do. You believe yourselves able
to meet even this great emergency, but you will not
deny that it is a great emergency. (Hear, hear) I have
that Confidence in my countrymen—in their indomitable
spirit—that I have-no doubt, in spite of the mistakes of
the noble lord, they will overcome the present difficulty.
Nevertheless, I say the noble lord has made a great
take. I may even use a stronger word. India is now the
opprobium of the noble lord's administration. He has
reduced India to its present position, and if we lose India
we lose the world. My charge against the noble lord,
therefore, is not a small one. First, I say that he has in-
sulted the House of Commons—t' a-, he has pursued the
course of utterly passing it by—that he has declared ear,
undertaken err expedition, and made peace without ask-
ing your approval or consulting your wishes. He has acted
as if you were not in ex'stence. The House of Commons is
in the opinion of the noble lord an utter cipher. Such is
the first charge I bring against the noble lord. The next
is that he has chosen an occasion for thus treating the
House of Commons the most dangerous to England that
has occurred since the declaration of independence by
America. By a want of care, by a want of foresight,
by that sort of rashness which constant success en-
genders, he has denuded India of her defences and thus
led to all the dangerous consequences that have occurred.
Far be it from me to take up the time of the house by
unnecessary observations. I move the resolution which
I have placed upon the paper with a full knowledge of
its importance, 'with a full knowledge, too, of the vita-
peraeon and sarcasm to which I may subject mysel ;
but, having before my eyes my daty as a representative
of the people, I say that upon this question of the Per-
sian war the noble lord has been an enemy of the House
of Commons of England. The hon. and learned gentle-
man 'concluded by moving :
"That the war with Persia was declared, prosecuted,
and_ concluded without information of such transactions
being communicated to Parliament ; while expensive ar-
maments were equipped without the sanction of a vote of
this house.
" That it is tho opinion of this house that such conduct
tends to weaken itsjust authority, and to dispense with its
constitutional control over the finances of the country, and
renders it requisite for this house to express its strong re-
probation of such a course of proceeding."
Mr. AYRTON seconded the resolution.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that the speech of the hon. gentleman had been, with
one exception, confined to the notice on the paper,
namely, as to the manner in which the war had been
conducted, and not to the merits of the war itself. He
would begin by stating that, he had come to the house
prepared to hear the policy and justice of the war ques-
tioned, and prepared to state the grounds on which hos-
tilities were commenced, but he did not feel justified in
going tnto those matters now, as the hon. gentleman
bad not questioned the policy of the war, but by his
silence seemed to admit it. The papers had long been
on the table of the house, and it was not, theref, re,
necessary to wait for a committee of supply to bring it
before the house. Those who had watched the
affairs of Central Asia during the last few years, would
know that it had been a cardinal piece of our policy that
Herat should not tall into the hands of the Persians, and
that was looked upon as a piece of national policy by ell
nations. Perela was a weak power, while Russia over-
shadowed her, and placed her in a state of semi-depen-
dence on Russia, indeed it was no refd-ction upon Persia
to say that it was a vassal of Russia, and guided by Rus-
sia in its foreign relations. The British Government had
lately been engaged in a great conflict with the Russian
empire, and it was not his wish to say a word that might
revive asperities that had passed a ?gay, but looking to
Central Asia, it was impossible not to see that Russia
and England had rival interests which induced England
to maintain the independence of the Indian boundary.
Undoubtedly there had been during the war with Re
sia disagreements between our minister an I the Persian
Government, but they did not give rise to the war, al-
though they might have giv,o rise to a su,pension
of diplomatic relations. The right honourable gen-
tleman, having explained the origin of the war, pro-
ceeded to say that the hon. and learned gentleman had
stated that no previous Government had ever entered
upon a war without giving notice to Parliament ; bat
let them look how far precedent and practice justified
that statement. If they looked to the occupation of
Bushire and Karrack in 1838, he would find that no
snob communication was made to Parliament. There
was:eo doubt of the prerogative of the Crown to declare
war, so that nothing could have been done beyond a
mere communication to Parliament. No money was
necessary to be arked for at the time, as the preliminary
expenses of the war were discharged by the Indian Go-
vernment. No step whatever was, required to be taken
with regard to that house. The bon. gentleman had
compared the Persian with the Russian war, but morally
and constitutionally there was a great difference be-
tween the two cases, one difference being that in
the Russian war the funds had to be provided
by tbat house, whereas in the Persian war,
the preliminary expenses were defrayed by the
Indian Government. • The war was announced by
her Majesty on the opening of Parlament, and he did
not see how Government could have taken an earlier
notice of the subject. Looking at previous practice, and
the constitutional character of the case, he could not
understand what irregifarity or inconvenience there had
been, or io w hat way there had been any di-respect shown
to Parliament. (Hear, hear.) He would now pass to
that part of the hon. gentleman's speech, in which he
sought to connect the recent events in India with the
late Persian expedition.- He stated that the Government
had been -ivarned against denuding India of her troops,
but he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was not aware
of Any stieh warning, and as far as his experience went
• he did not believe there had been any remonstrance on
the part of the Indian Government. But was it true
that there was any connection between the mutiny
In the Indian army and the withdrawal of the troops
for the Persian 'expedirteienct:ed
htcmcoerd- tihneg
stoirittheof bt:ilset
accounts which had a
mutineers WAS peculiar to Bengal
North-Western provinoes, andedidnboaey t at all apnrdevailthine
the provinces of Madras and,
Bombay
reed s
u beenrilp
tion from which the troupe were drawn.
there
I
In those p.m b
no mutinous spirit exhibited, raising a strong P
tion against the theory which the honourable gentle
• bad cunt,,nded for. By this time the European eiron
meats had returned to
.India, and there was no
for connecting the mutiny at Delhi with a dgesirTtle
weaken the English Government during the absence at
the army, arising as they did from circumstances as dif-
ferent as could be conceived. He could not believe that
the house would countenance the suspicions the honour-
' able gentleman had raised as to the connection of the
mutiny at Delhi and the Persian Expedition. If the
motion had been made when the papers were laid en
the table, such a notion would never have entered
any one's head, because no one could have antici-
pated the results that bail recently occurred. But
then the honourable gentleman bad spoken of the
loss of our Indian empire as not an improbable
thing. (Cries of no, no, from Mr. Roebuck) He re-
joiced to hear that the hon. and learned gentleman
repudiated the supposition. Jaugieg from the acceu
which had been received, he could not placeoti the perma-
nence of our Indian empire as an I;
looked to it as based upon a most soujinfouinedealst'ioen,rande
denying the probability of his anticipations—admitting
at the same time the gravity of evils which would de- •
mend most anxious attention—he could not admit that