The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-24 00:00:00

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with the object of the war, with its origin, and finally,
I nho were the parties that were to pay its expenses. He
found from the papers of that day that no less a person
than the Chairman of the East India Company had
plainly intimated to the Court of Proprietors that he
looked to the Government to pay the expenses of the
invasion of Affghanistan. It was to be expected that
when the administration of Indian affairs was removed
from Leadenhalt-street to Downing-street Indian wars
would be carried on for European purposes ; but it might
be said that wars were carried on for European objects
during the administration of Lord Wellesley, when that
s. ries of brilliant achievements took place which consoli-
dated the Indian empire. But at that time England was
at war with France, and France made war in
India ; but in the present instance England
vas at war, and had no European adversary.
_With regard to the origin of the war, it was strange that
the late Government, who were so chary of imparting
information to the country, should have expressed them-
selves so openly upon this subject. With regard to what
all parties were agreed, it was not necessary to make any
explanation. But he supposed that in announcing the
success of Ghuznee, Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite could
not refrain from explaining the causes of taking this
step. And those Members who made this explanation
were entitled, from their position in the late Government
in relation to India, to guide the opinions of the House
of Commons. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Member
for Nottingham, then President of the Board of Control,
on the occasion when the thanks of the House were voted
to Sir John Keane, an occasion when there was a prelimi-
nary understanding that no allusion whatever was to be
made relative to the policy of the war—the Right Hon.
Gentleman, at the conclusion of his speech, lost in the
excitement of the moment, and intoxicated with the
triumph—the Right Hon. Gentleman asked permission of
the House to deviate from the general understanding,
and to be permitted to congratulate the House on the
great result obtained. The great result was, of course,
the great cause which originally impelled it, What was
that congratulation of the Right Hon. Gentleman? He
told them that the consequences of that great success
were, that we were no longer in danger of having
war declared by Burmah—that we were in no
danger of an invasion of Nepaul—that danger
which had threatened the tranquillity of Hindoostan.
The House would, in the first place, be somewhat sur-
prised when they recollected that the invasion of the
South Eastern border of the empire was an invasion of
the country that lies to the North Western district.—
(Laughter.) The tyrant of Burmah menaced India, and
the Indian Government ordered an army immediately to
invade Affghanistari. If the Emperor Napoleon had
given as a reason for his invasion of Moscow the insur-
rection of Madrid, he would have given a reason much
more germain to the matter than the reason of the Right
Hon. Gentleman. The same objection applied to the se-
cond reason of the Right Hon. Gentleman. The second
reason was the-menacing attitude which occasioned his
anxiety; that was the phrase used by the Indian Govern-
ment. The menacing attitude of Nepaul which caused
the anxiety of the Indian Government, had caused them
to send 50.000 men in another direction. If George the
Second had given as a reason for the battle of Minden
that he wished to keep the Highlanders in check, it
would have been as good a reason as the Right Hon.
Gentleman's. Could anything be more inconsistent than
for the Minister of England to come forward and say
that India was in a most dangerous position; that the in-
trigues of the native Princes were dangerous and must be
baffled? The Right Honourable. Gentleman, followed
by another Member of the Cabinet, whose splendid
abilities entitled him to attention on all occasions,
and more particularly on the present occasion, seeing
that he had been a Member of the Council of India—
the Right Hon. Gentleman apologised for breaking
through that general understanding of the policy of the
House; but stimulated, no doubt, by the circumstance of
what he called the glorious triumph at Ghuznee, he
could not help congratulating his Lordship. What did
the Right Hon Gentleman say ? He came forward, he
said to reiterate ; he assured the House that the repre-
sentations which had been made with respect to the
native States were perfectly correct. He thought that,
in order to prevent Nepaul presenting a menacing atti-
tude it would be necessary to cross the Indus and invade
Afghanistan. But that was not all. He said he had to
make a special communication to the House, fbunded
upon his own observation—it might be called private and
confidential, but he felt bound to impart it to the House.
There was something particular, he said, in India. There
was a looking forward to something. A restlessness—a
something founded on the fact that the authority of Eng-
land was on the decline ; and a looking forward to some
authority to usurp its place. The star of England was
about setting there. That was the declaration of a
Minister of the Crown—that was the reason for crossing
the Indus, for invading Aflghanistan, and for the seizure
of Ghuznee. Perhaps the Right Hon. Gentleman would
say whether our star had paled since Ghuznee had been
re-captured. They had been told by Burke that their
empire in India was an empire of opinion. But the India
of that time was not the India of the present day. Per-
haps he wished to convey to the people of this country
an impression that the natives of India obeyed us from a
superstitious belief of our superiority in arts and arms.
But we have, since that time, become more powerful, and
the people of India more enlightened. He believed that
in no country were the elements of our power more
nicely scanned, or subjected to a more rigid scrutiny as
to how that power was exercised. If their power was
founded only on a confidence in the natives in our star,
if we held India on that tenure alone, he. should despair
of holding the country for any duration of time. But it
should be recollected that India was not one nation, but an
assembly of different countries, divided from each other
by religion, customs, manners, and, wider still, by
language. He instanced some of the former reverses of
the British arms in India, at Mysore and Bhurtpore,
which he contended had not affected British influence in
other parts of the Empire. If ever they lost India, they
would lose it by a financial convulsion, a condition which
such wars as the present were calculated to bring about.
Now, they held India first by civil service, the most in-
telligent and the best organised which had ever existed
in modern time ; they held India, secondly by her army,
one of the most numerous and best disciplined probably
which had ever existed. The third element of their
tenure was that of law, which they themselves introduced
in India, by which forty millions of inhabitants
were interested in the maintenance of our
rule ; the power that possessed the valley of the
Ganges would always command Hindostan. The fifth
element in our power was the system, by which not a
single native Prince could possibly communicate with
any other. There was. in fact, a complete isolation of
Indian States ; and not merely were the States isolated,
but there, was a segregation of the races, which fa-
voured an important element in our tenure of India.
He could not believe that our Indian empire was in
danger ; he could not believe that one, two, or even
three defeats would endanger our power. A defeat in
India would have no more influence upon our power
than the defeat of Walcheren or Buenos Ayres. He
did not look to the intrigues of the native Princes with
any fear. Look at the case of the Raja of Sattara,
who had intrigued with the Portuguese at Goa, and stipu-
lated for the invasion of India with 30,000 troops. He
believed the Right Hon. Gentleman was the only
man in England who believed that statement. This
was a specimen of their intrigues. The Right Hon.
Gentleman had dethroned him ; the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had insulted his ambassadors ; the Right
Honourable Gentleman had treated him in a
manner which Mr. Hastings never equalled.— (Hear.)
Could anything be more preposterous than the idea,
that Portugal should intrigue with with the Raja of
Sattara, for the purpose of putting him on the throne of
India? Yet that preposterous idea had cost one of the
most enlightened of the native Princes his throne. His
Ambassadors had been treated with insult. It was not
the intrigues of Aga and Nepaul, which was now redu-
ced to afw mountain tribes, and of the native Princes,
that-Our India difficulties were owing, it was to the com-
plicated state of society in the military and civil services,
which we had created in those countries, and which
finally we should be unable to raise revenue sufficient to
maintain. He knew that formerly there was the great-
est difficulty in getting the House to pay attention to
these subjects. But the Housewould now pay attention
to this. The Income-tax would make them do that.—
(Opposition cheers.) The Income-tax, to quote the
words of Lord Bacon, came home to every man's bosom.
It would make gentlemen look to the causes which had
occasioned so many markets to be disturbed during the
last ten years. Up to 1837, the demand for British food
in the Indian market, had increased one-third. Since

the Atthan war, however, the demand had lessened, and
the price of British goods in the Indian market had fallen.
The drain that these wars had caused in India had been
productive of a fall in prices, which had produced the
most ruinous effects. His firm belief was that the curse
of India consisted in the fact that the currency did not
represent property ; that trade with Affghanistan,
which it had been the object of the mission of Sir A.
Burnes to encourage, had been completely sacrificed by
the expedition. The House had a right to inquire .into
that mysterious war, for no cause had as yet been assigned
for it. It was absurd to say that the Affghan Chiefs
were in treaty against them; and if they wanted a fron-
tier against other States what better could they desire
than the one they possessed already, when they had
2,000 miles of unoccupied territory between them and
any other great State? But the Noble Lord bad said the
explanations of Russia were satisfactory on the subject.
Lord PALMERSTON—Assertions.
Mr. D'ISRAELI—He was glad to hear the Noble
Lord say so. It was known the Noble Lord was hostile
to Russia. One circumstance had occasioned this war
—that was the siege of Herat. He wished, before he
sat down, to impress upon the House one point. For
ten years this country had not been able to contend with
what was called its foreign policy ; that policy upon
which our foreign commerce depended. It was strange
that those who said so much about our foreign commerce
should forget our foreign policy. The Noble Lord's
system was one which might be for a moment successful,
which might take Ghuznee, but must eventually be ren-
dered futile. He commenced war by a neglect of our
duties as regarded foreign Powers, and he terminated
war by a violation.of their rights. He hoped the Right
Hon. Gentleman, at present at the head of her Majesty's
Government, would not follow such a course. Great as
might be our progress in civilization—reform as we might
our commercial tariff; and multiply our political rights—he
was quite certain that the days of our authority were
numbered, and that the date of the decline of our cm•
pire might already be ascertained. He had great plea-
sure in seconding the motion of his Hon. Friend.
Sir J. C. HOBHOITSE must deny that the affairs of
India were ever neglected in that House from indiffer-
ence to them, but from a very proper diffidence in the
Members respecting their knowledge of them. And if
t'i ey were not discusEe I more temperately, and with eater
knowledge than by the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat
down, he thought the time of the House would be more
than wasted, by entering into such discussions at all. He
had entered into matters not conneetedwith Affghanistan;
he had referred to some parts of his conduct when he
aas President of the Board of Control ; to had accused
him of aethrouilis- at, Aja of SOUP, an 4 repeated