Star.
London, England, 1827-05-09 00:00:00

i
icilasilent were be m t t Ormanca of military
aval seri as to whit it wai seldom that any
a g could exist. There were cases is
jaiklA 44„ hi,escowuhreserehthaed
mbedeintardyepaanrdted from;
power butit 'sew
L\
centred in the same individual. And he therefore should
confine his present motion to the Officers and men who
bad carried the late expedition into effect, without ex-
. tending his vote to include the parties who had planned
it. The service, then, to which he had to refer, had
certainly not been of so brilliant and imposing a cha-
racter at all points, as some upon which, in the course
of his experience, he had had opportunities of cony*.
tulating the House. The enemy, in fact, had been of
a less noble, and perhaps of a less formidable character.
than those which we had had in other places to encona-
ter. •But the troops employed had been compelled to
meet local difficulties such as soldiers in very few in-
stances had ever had to contend with. They had had
to combat with heavy and arduous marches in an un-
known country,—with inclemency of season, unwhole-
someness of climate, and almost unparalleled fatigue.
This service of danger and difficulty had not been
con 6 ed to the army. Its operations had been most
materially aided by the navy, to the exertions of which
the highest credit, throughout the enterprise, was due.
It was also a new feature in this contest, lying, as the
• scene of operations had done, mainly upon the banksof
a great navigable river, that the power of steam had
for the first time been applied in aid of our warfare,
and used with the most unequivocal success. It was
not necessary to enter into the details of 0 struggle
• • • which bad been as honourable to the British arms
.'idtroughout its progress as in its termination. Upon
-::::elett last part of the question certainly he would detain
:the House for a single moment in noticing the conduct
• of Sir Archibald Campbell, but it should only be for a
moment. The moderation and discretion of that gal-
lant Officer in checking his army when it was within
four days' march of the enemy's capital, and when that
plunder which would have fairly recompensed his
soldiers for their toils was open to them, could not
too highly be commended. A temptation which
could not fail to be strong in its way had presented
itself; but the gallant General bad preferred the
opportunity of terminating the war in a way eventually
advantageous to the British empire to enriching his
army, and had demanded at that period of the contest'
• no higher terms than he had asked at its outset. There
was another gallant Officer to whom he must also allude
by n +met it was impossible for him to pass over the
signal service performed by Lord Combermere, in the
taking of Bhurtpore. That great and important fortreis
was the only one which had ever withstood our arms in
lirclia. In the time of Lord Lake, circumrances had
brought upon us the misfortune of being repulsed from-
before it; and the effect which that success had pro-
duced upon the superstitious conquerors was lode
scribable ; they believed that it was charmed by their
Deity, and impregnable for ever to European arms.—
Great credit was due to Sir Edward Paget for the
. alacrity and judgment with which he had collected to-
gethet the necessary strength and materials for the
attack of that place; and its capture had been one of the
most acceptable services which could have been per-
formed by the arms of this country. He was happy
to add, that in both these expeditions the zeal and con-
rage of the native troops had *hewn itself conspicuously.
The Madras Sepoys in particular deserved great praise,
for a readiness in the service which could not have been
exceeded even by European lot ces. Tne numerous in-
stances of individual courage and devotion, which it
would have been easy for him to allude to, he should
, only omit because he had already stated that it was not
his intention to bring the details of the war before the,
House; and he should therefore conclude by moving, in
the first instance,—
• 44 That the Thanks of the House should be gives to Lord em-
bolism, Commander-in.Cbief of the forces in India, for the seal
sad meritorious conduct he displayed in commanding the troops
ccloyedin the attack upon Shurtpore; and particularly for the
en! with which he planned the assault upon that fortress, tie
*access of which had been highly valuable to ttte reputation of tie'
• Ikitish arms."
. '
Mr. HUME rose to second the motion, and entirely
' concurred with Mr. Wynn in his view of the service
I.''' which had been performed; the value of which, as well
• as the difficulty, he fully admitted the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had rather stated below its real extent, than ex-
aggerated. The degree in which the troops had been
exposed to disease might be judged of from the fact,
that Regiments of 700 or 800 strong were often unable
to furnish fifty men for parade. He rejoiced alai in the
particular course which the motion of the Right Hon.
I
Gentleman had taken; because, although he cheerfully
acknowledged the excellent conduct of the war, it
would have been impossible for him to have given the
same opinion as to its merits, if that question had been
• .
included in the vote. There was one circumstance on
•([
which he desired to say a word—the Right H•mourable
Gentleman had said nothing of the troops em
•
ployed at Atracan. He thought that their services
had been of the most distressing and harassing na-
ture, and that they were well entitled to a sepa-
rate vote. With respect to the Navy, he was glad
to find that their services were duly appreciated by the
Right Hon. Gentleman; and the more so, as they had
not received justice from a work professing to give an
account of the campaign. He gave full credit, as be
• had before said, for the mode in which the service of
the war had been conducted ; to Sir A. Campbell for
the manner in which he had brought it to a conclusion ;
and indeed for having brought it to a conclusion almost
upon any terms. For the generosity which the Right
Hon. Gentleman had attributed to the gallant General,
however, in refusing his troops the plunder of the chief
1 city of the Burmese, he rather believed that that policy
was entitled to the praise of having been a pfudent as
i well as a liberal one; for as Sir A. Cambell, at the time
t' when he signed his treaty, had not more than 2,000
men under arms ; and the inhabitants of the city, of
I. which he was within four days' march, exceeded that
number about 50 times over ; it seemed more than likely
that, if he had gone on, instead of having to plunder
the great city, his little army would have been de-
•k. stroyed the moment that he entered it. He said this,
t however, with no view to detract from the praise
111 . which was so justly due to Sir Archibald Camp-
bell ; and he believed that many Officers of high
reputation would scarcely have gone on as he had
done, in the face of the same difficulties. With re-
spect to what had been said about the fortress of
Bhurtpore, he could speak from some experience on that
subject, and he agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman
opposite as to the value of that service entirely. He
bad himself been in India at the time when the British
•
troops had been four times repulsed from before that
fortress; and fully recollected the impression which that
result had produced upon the natives. The taking of
that fort did the highest credit to the activity of Lord