LORD KEANE. (Hansard, 15 February 1841)

§ Lord John Russell
moved the order of the day for the bringing up the report of the Committee on her Majesty's message.

§ Mr. Hume
said, that as the House had agreed by a large majority to the grant of the pension, he would not oppose the reception of the report, but should support the motion of his hon. Friend in committee. He wished to know whether, before that discussion came on, the noble Lord would object to lay before the House all the correspondence which had taken place between the Government and the court of directors respecting the granting a pension to Lord Keane. He (Mr. Hume) understood, that a correspondence had taken place, and that the court of directors had expressed an opinion, that Lord Keane was already amply rewarded. Now, if that were the case, he thought they should either have a copy of their proceedings, or a denial of the fact.

§ Lord John Russell
could not produce any correspondence on the subject, and with regard to any communication that might have taken place between the Government and the court of directors, he could only say, that the substance of it was totally different from what the hon. Gentleman seemed to suppose. The directors did not give an opinion to the Government, that Lord Keane had already been amply rewarded, but, on the contrary, they declared, that they thought it most just that an application should be made to Parliament, to confer upon that noble Lord some signal acknowledgment of its sense of the value of his services in India.

§ Mr. Hume
said, that the noble Lord 632 quite misunderstood his question. His question was, whether an application was made to the court of directors to grant a pension, and whether they had refused.

§ Mr. Hogg
felt bound to state, that the court of directors, in reply to the application made to them, expressed, in the strongest terms, their opinion of the merits of Lord Keane, and their opinion, as far as it could weigh with her Majesty's Government, was, that Lord Keane was entitled to the pension to himself and his two heirs, in the way in which such grants were usually made to distinguished soldiers, who for their gallantry and skill had been raised to the Peerage. But the court of directors went on to say, not only as a matter of finance, but because they thought it honourable to Lord Keane, that as his services had been recognised by the British Parliament, the pension also should be conferred by the British House of Commons.