§ SIR DE L. EVANSmoved for—
Copies of such Warrants, Orders, or Directions, as may have been issued by the War Office or Treasury, bearing date about the year 1832, inviting or authorizing Pensioners to receive a, commuted allowance for their Pensions, with the promise of Land in the Colonies; of such unpublished Representations to Government as may have have been made by the Earl of Durham while Governor of Canada on the consequences of those commutations; of such Orders or Explanations as may have been issued by the English Treasury or War Office to the Canadian Government or otherwise on the subject of restoring the Pensions of the Pensioners in Canada, under certain specified circumstances; of such Minutes or Orders as may have been drawn up by the Treasury, showing why the measure of restoration of Pension extended to the Pensioners in Canada ought not to be granted to the commuted Pensioners who may not have left England, or who may have returned to England from Canada; also, of such representations as may have been addressed to the Treasury subsequent to 1832 by the Right Hon. Edward Ellice and the Right Hon. Sir Henry Hardinge, when Secretaries at War, in reference to the justice or policy of commuting Pensions for service or wounds, and to the case of those who claimed restoration of their Pensions, after having, in fact, paid back with interest the amount which had been advanced to them as a commutation by Government.663 The hon. and gallant Officer urged the Government to take this case into consideration, and, by the expenditure of a very trifling sum of money, save those veterans whose pensions had been commuted, and who were now, having returned from Canada, living in a state of the utmost distress, from the absolute destitution in which, if neglected, they would eventually be placed. It was a disgrace to an English Administration that such a system of getting rid of old soldiers had ever been resorted to. He even believed that the Government had gained something like 300l. from the distresses of those twenty pensioners to whose misfortunes he had so often called the attention of the House.
§ MR. F. MAULEdid not feel justified in acceding to the Motion. He had no objection, however, to put those parties who were living in this country on the same footing (4½d. a day) as those resident in Canada, or he would have no objection to give them a free passage and enable them to settle in British North America.
§ SIR DE L. EVANSsaid, most of these parties were so old that they could not emigrate. The Government had saved from 200l. to 300l. by each of these pensioners; and why not give them the pension to which they were formerly entitled before they went out to Canada?
LORD J. RUSSELLsaid, there was no objection to place these men on the same footing as those now in Canada.
§ Motion withdrawn.