drove back at the point of the bayonet the officers, who had made an attempt to remonstrate with them upon their conduct. He wished to know, now that the transaction was almost forgotten in India, what good could be produced by having all the circumstances ripped up by a parliamentary inquiry? He must also say, that the number killed upon that occasion was very much exaggerated. Those persons whose duty it was to make returns of the numbers killed, and whose interest it was to make out as large a return as possible, because they were paid for burying the mutineers at so much per head, had never stated the number killed at more than one hundred and eighty. With respect to the alleged misunderstanding between the governor-general and the commander-in-chief of the army in India, he would say, that it was utterly unfounded. He was warranted in making this statement, by the letter to which he had alluded a letter which was one strictly of private nature, and never intended by the writer to be made public, but which he had felt it his duty to transmit to lord Liverpool, who had by his permission, shewn it to his grace, the commander-inchief. [The hon. member here read extracts from the letter, giving a detail of the operations of the army employed in the Burmese war, and stating that lord Amherst and the commander-in-chief were on the best terms, and that the harmony which subsisted between them had never been interrupted, even for a single hour]. He trusted that the hon. member for Montrose would state whether he had seen the letter to which he had alluded, and whether it bore the signature of captain Amherst. ૐ, Mr. Hume answered in the affirmative. Mr. Hart Davis.-Even taking the sentiments in that letter to be as stated by the hon. member, was it fair towards the commander-in-chief, or towards the writer of the letter, who, under the excitement of heated feelings, had, in a letter strictly private, expressed his opinions, to bring them forward in a public discussion? Would it be fair towards any man, to bring forward upon a motion attaching censure to him, the opinions expressed by other persons, in a confidential communication? He should be glad to know, what would be the feelings of the hon. member for Montrose, if such a course were pursued upon a motion made with respect to the Greek war [cheers]. Would that hon. member think it fair, that, upon such a motion, the opinions of other persons as to his financial care of the interests of the people whom he had taken under his protection, should be pressed into the discussion? He mentioned this to shew that persons who lived in glass houses should not be the first to throw stones [cheers]. He was induced to make those observations, from his anxiety to rescue the character of a gallant officer from the imputations which had been most unjustly cast upon him. Colonel Davies said, the hon. member who spoke last, had alluded to the proverb, "that those who lived in glass houses ought not to throw stones." He would leave the House to appreciate the good feeling and good taste of such an allusion. He would not himself give any opinion on the subject, much less would he, in imitation of the hon. member, bring before the House the misfortunes for he could call them nothing but misfortunes-which befel the hon. member himself some years ago. If he followed that hon. member's example, he could mention transactions, connected with the hon. member's name, which would bring a blush of shame on that hon. member's cheeks [cheers and murmurs]. Mr. Hart Davis rose instantly. "I call upon the gallant colonel," said he, "to explain what he means. He may say what he pleases. I defy him." the The Speaker said, that he never interfered with the proceedings of the House without great pain, and often not without some doubt as to whether, in what he was doing, he might be doing good. Certain he was that his interference could never do good, except in cases where it was absolutely necessary-a consideration which often kept him silent. But perhaps best proof which could be had of the utility of observing even rigorously the forms of the House, was to be found in the inconvenience which commonly arose from any deviation from them. In the beginning, the mischief seemed trifling; but it almost constantly very soon increased to an extent which the House itself could not bear. The hon. member for Bristol could hardly fail to be aware, that he had begun, in the present case, by deviating from the immediate subject before the House, and alluding to topics connected entirely with other matter. How far the observations ma made upon that matter might be intended to be personal to the feelings of another hon. member, was not exactly the question; because the hon. member could not be surprised if they were, at all events, taken to be so; and, being so taken, they could hardly fail to produce retorts. He hoped occurrence. An offer was made to the mutineers before the officers left the regiment, to lay their complaints before a tribunal, which was about to be convened, and even the commander-in-chief's plate was offered to them as a hostage, to assure them of the sincerity of the intended offer; propose a that what he had felt it his duty to say, and the officers who went tode would convince hon. members of the inconvenience attending any deviation, however slight, from the rules of the House; and that the hon. gentleman who was about to resume the debate, would confine himself exclusively to the question. Colonel Davies resumed. Certainly, he said, when he rose to speak, he was labouring under feelings which were painful to utter; but he believed the great body of the House would concur with him, that his feelings were such as ought to animate every man who had a heart. The gallant member then referred to the details of the melancholy transaction which they were discussing. He was the last person who would impute cruelty to the gallant general who commanded. He believed him to be a brave, honourable, and humane man: but he contended, nevertheless, that the production of the papers was necessary to the vindication of sir E. Paget's character; and to shew where the guilt really lay.2013 eld submission the following day were turned Sir H. Vivian expressed not only his regret at the occurrence of so many mutinies in India, within the last twenty years, but his conviction of the necessity of putting an end to them by such a measure as that adopted by sir Edward Paget. He had known and served with his gallant friend many years he had been in the same regiment and the same company with him; and he had had many opportunities of witnessing the humanity of his disposition. It was well said, in a general order issued by an illustrious individual, whose loss they had lately to deplore, that "the brightest gem in the character of the British soldier was humanity." Now, in no bosom did that gem shine more brightly than in that of his gallant friend. He could assure the House, that there was no officer in the British army more adverse to unnecessary severity of discipline, than that gallant officer. Menacing and mutiny on the part of soldiers, with arms in their hands, General Duff spoke with great warmth ought to be instantly suppressed on all against the motion. The hon. gentleman occasions; but particularly in a country so who had brought it forward, had, he said, circumstanced as India. Were not all undertaken to treat of a subject which he did proper means used to prevent the unhappy not understand. He might be very good Mr. Money admitted that more lives were lost than was necessary, but it was natural that soldiers, irritated and let loose on their opponents, should commit excesses that humanity must deplore. As to the effects of the example made on that occasion they were most beneficial; as appeared from the present tsuperior discipline of the Bengal army. bicThe hon. member said, he should oppose the pro duction of the report. authority on a question of physic; and he Mr. Maberly was not of opinion that . he would give this assertion so much credit, as to take the matter for granted. But when it was added, that the granting of these papers would implicate too many persons in India, he could not help asking, what sort of hold must our's upon India be, if gentlemen were to be met, on calling for inquiry into the causes of any great disaster, with exclamations of alarm, and his majesty's government were the first persons to cry, "Hush, for God's sake, not a word on that subject!" It had been admitted, that one cause of the disaffection exhibited by the sepoys was, their destination at the time; for it was conceded on all hands, that the Burmese war was exceedingly disrelished in that part of the country and by the native troops. If the fact was so, it exceedingly behoved those gentlemen, who were most connected with the government of India, to keep those boundaries, for the future, which good policy and equity alike prescribed to them, as the proper limits of their eastern possessions. If they should exceed those limits, he for one hoped to see the day when the government of such noble territories would be taken out of the hands of those who, at present, wielded it in Leadenhall-street; and placed in hands to which it should long since have been made over-the hands of his majesty's government. Mr. Forbes considered that the papers called for were absolutely requisite, to Sir E. Paget, although shew whether a case of sufficient necessity really did arise, for the dreadful massacre in which, not only one hundred and sixty of the native soldiers had lost their lives, but many women and children, residing in their huts, were sacrificed also. nemigen Sir Joseph Yorke said, he had heard several, but not all of the speeches which had been delivered, on this occasion, and among others, that of the hon. baronet (sir C. Forbes) whose speech seemed to comprise all the observations that had fallen from all the East India proprietors during the last twenty years. He had also heard the very temperate and conciliatory remarks of the Chair, in its endeavour to produce a better understanding between two hon. members; but he certainly had not heard any attack attempted on the character of he had heard vindicated, as if some hostile animadversions had been made upon it. The fact was, that sir E. Paget, in the extraordinary situation in which he found himself, had but done that, which every brave and humane man, in the Sir J. Beresford, when he heard some capacity of commander-in-chief, would hon. gentlemen really doubting whether have done under similar circumstances. the transactions which had been so much He had, undoubtedly, acquitted himself referred to that evening, did or did not in an honourable, a just and a gallant amount to a mutiny, begged to observe, that manner. But the question before the he had received a letter from a brother officer House was, whether these papers should of rank, who was present at the scene, and or should not be granted? All agreed who not only described it as a mutiny, that sir Edward had not proceeded to but declared that sir E. Paget had by extremities, until that course could be no his forbearance in the beginning, and his longer avoided. But, in answer to this determination at the conclusion, of those demand for the papers necessary to put transactions as much entitled himself to parliament in possession of the history of the praise of having saved his country, so this unfortunate transaction, he had heard far as her eastern dominion was concerned, one of his majesty's ministers affirm, that as lord St. Vincent had done, by his adtheir production would be exceedingly mirable conduct in the mutiny off Cadiz, inconvenient; and if it rested on that in preserving to Great Britain the allegi right hon, gentleman's own responsibility, Iance of her navy. This officer had written home, that sir Edward merited the ceived as the most degrading terms of rethanks, not only of India, but of the whole British empire; and he particularly extolled the good feeling manifested by this distinguished commander, in going before the troops, in front of their line, under arms, and asking them with the utmost earnestness and anxiety, to return to their obedience. When, he at length found that his remonstrances were vain, he performed the sad duty which remained to him, like a man, whose determination was equal to his humanity. proach. For instance, he "God damned their eyes," and every thing else. Hel pulled off his coat, tore open his waist coat, and, baring his bosom, bad them shoot him, and otherwise deported himself in such a manner, as to make the sepoys think him of unsound mind. The hon. gentleman concluded by disclaiming the notion of intending any personal disre spect to sir Edward Paget by this motion; and animadverted on the utter irrelevancy of all the eulogies which had been passed on that eminent officer, to the objects of the present motion. The House divided: For the motion 44; Against it 176: Majority against the List of the Minority. Jo mon) Althorp, lord Lamb, hon. G. Lumley, J. S. Maberly, Jaque Monck, J. B. intentong Maberly, W. L6që Ponsonby, hou. Galt Rowley, sir W. Jong Stewart, John Sykes, D. Taylor, M. A fondan Tennyson, C.draperi Warburton, Ha Webbe, col. Mr. Hume, in reply, contended, that the right hon. gentleman himself, with a degree of candour for which he was bound to thank him, had, in fact, admitted the whole of the case, with one or two excep-motion 132. tions that were of little moment; for he admitted, that the evils complained of by the native troops, as to the deficiency of beasts, and other means of transport and accommodation, had existed, and that they had since been remedied. He was very glad to hear this assurance; but the admission with which it was coupled sanctioned the principle of the motion now before the House. In stating the loss of human life, however, on this melancholy occasion, at only one hundred and sixty; the right hon. gentleman greatly underrated the extent of the calamity, for he did not include the one hundred and fifty natives who perished in their attempt to escape over the river, and were shot at like so many wild fowl. As to those who had been described as the great fomenters of the discontents, and the necessity of whose removal had been, in some sort, made the excuse for the attack upon the sepoys, it was notorious that they lived in line with the rest of the native troops; and might, at any moment, have been all of them seized and executed, if their destruction was thought essential to the preservation of our influence and power in India. But our own troops and officers had, by their acts, increased the discontent and resentment of the sepoys; who did, however, manifest, in return for what they felt as insults and injuries, the most extraordinary forbearance. Among other instances of this forbearance on their part, was the case of colonel Dalzel. That officer, who did not understand a word of Mr. D. W. Harvey said, that he hadow Hindostanee, in the irritation of the mo- divided against this grant on every oced-bo ment, reviled and abused them, and ad- sion, but not on either of the grounds dressed to them epithets, which among which had been advanced by his honourable our own soldiers and sailors would be re-friends. Those who might be termed the GRANT TO THE TELLERS. Davies, col. DUKE AND DUC the oF CLARENCE.] On the order of day, for the third reading of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence's Annuity Bill, and Mr. Hume said, he could not allow this bill to pass without again raising his voice against it, and declaring the grant to be a profligate waste of the public money, that it placed his royal highness in a most degrading situation. However, he would not press the question to a division, as he had on a former occasion experienced its inutility. D. 22 the bill, it did not take from the grace of the measure thus to persist in oppositions to a measure which, however objection-m able, was not so important as to require an hostility so persevering. If his noble friend determined to divide the House, he d should decline voting with him. by aris party tacticians on his side, opposed the grant, not because it was too large, but because the duke of Clarence was not the heir apparent to the throne. Now, when he looked at the proximity of that illustrious individual to the throne, and that it was scarcely possible that any child of the present king would interpose, he thought the objection on that ground untenable and ungracious. If the duke of Clarence would really be intitled to it, were he actually the heir apparent, for one he should say, let him have it, alE though in law he was only heir presumptive. Nor could he oppose it on account of the peculiar distress of the country, for he did not believe that the people SALMON FISHERIES BILL.] Mr. Kenof England would derive any comfort for nedy moved for leave to bring in a bill to their own wretchedness, by stripping the regulate the Salmon Fisheries of Crown of its due splendor. But he opposed it on the broad principle, that the general financial affairs of this country required a speedy, sincere, and effectual supervision, with a view to a real and unsparing system of retrenchment and economy. And where, he would ask, could the House begin this good work so effectually, not only as being an expensive part of our establishment, but still more from the value of the example, as with the Civil List? For one, he liked to begin in high places, and he despised the contemptible policy of lopping off a few pence from unpatronised clerks, leaving the over-grown, over-fed, and over-paid consumers of the public money to remain unmolested. The same motives which had influenced him in opposing any additional grant to the duke of Clarence, would cheerfully induce him to cut down very considerably the incomes now allotted to the other branches of the royal family. Mr. Pallmer supported the bill. He thought it must be satisfactory to those who supported the grant to know that the illustrious personages who were the objects of it, exhibited a pattern of domestic virtue and hospitality. Lord Rancliffe said, he was so averse to the grant, that he would take the sense of the House upon this the last stage of the measure. Lord Althorp said, he had opposed the vote in the first instance, but had abstained from taking a part in the discussion since that period. He put it to his noble friend whether, as it was evident, the majority of the House was favourable to Lord Rancliffe expressed his disinclination to trouble the House unnecessarily, or to do any thing that might be considered ungracious. He would therefore of not press his opposition to the measure to a division. muud end of bupo The bill was then read a third time and passed. the United Kingdom. He proposed to allow ample time for filling up the blanks; so that all parties likely to be interested in, or affected by, the bill, might be in possession of its details. Mr. Warburton said, that a former report on this subject had assigned, as one of the causes of the diminution in the breed of fish, that the rivers of England were fished too hard; and it was suggested, that water-bailiffs should be appointed for their better superintendence and protection. Now, to him it appeared, that a much more eligible mode might be hit upon for increasing the supply of this fish, than the adoption of any new system of Game-laws, as he was tempted to call this proposal. Fresh salmon, under the existing law, was a prohibited article. Perhaps the gentlemen of Scotland who possessed salmon wears and fisheries could explain how this had happened. Turbot and lobsters might be freely imported; but not so salmon. Now, when his hon. friend's bill should be brought in, he meant to contend for a free trade in salmon. Sir R. Fergusson was convinced that his hon. friend could not have read the bill; the object of which was, to open the salmon fishery of this country, which, by the present law, was closed. The aim of his hon. friend's bill was to increase the breed by diminishing the period within which salmon might be taken. Mr. G. Lamb hoped that sufficient time would be allowed to transmit copies of the bill to all the proprietors of these fisheries throughout the United Kingdom. The original report he had read; and he ap |