§ MR. G. THOMPSONbegged to ask the President of the Board of Control—" Whether, as Her Majesty's Ministers have deemed it their duty to lay before the House a blue book of 378 pages, relating to a rebellion in the island of Ceylon in July last, they do not consider it equally their duty to lay before the House the papers relating to the war in the Punjaub, described by Her Majesty in Her gracious Speech from the Throne as 'a rebellion,' which war has been going on since April, 1848, and has necessitated the calling of an army into the field of not less than 120,000 men, including camp followers, and involving an extraordinary expenditure of not less than five millions sterling a year."
§ SIR J. C. HOBHOUSEsaid, that the question which the hon. Gentleman had put to him, and which he intended to put to his noble Friend the First Lord of the Treasury, was one of those questions, he submitted to the House, which were couched in terms that entitled them to be called argumentative questions. He assumed certain things which were not the fact, and he grounded the questions upon them. If he had put the question in the common form, when would the papers be produced?—he (Sir J. C. Hobhouse) would not have had the least objection to give an answer. The hon. Gentleman asked why it was, when the Queen's Government presented a folio of 378 pages relating to a rebellion in the island of Ceylon, they did not present one equally large as to the affairs of the Punjaub. The answer was very simple. The affairs of Ceylon were over, and Government had thought it their duty to present those papers, that Parliament might 1186 form some opinion as to those matters. Then he went on to say that a war had been raging since April, 1848. It had not been going on since April, 1848. The commencement dated much later than the period which the hon. Gentleman mentioned. He then went on to state that there was an army now in the field of 120,000 men, including camp followers. He (Sir J. C. Hobhouse) knew nothing about camp followers; it might mean camels, and matters of that sort. He could assure the hon. Member that the force in the field did not amount to half that number. And then he was so good as to estimate the cost. How did he know that it cost five millions? It had never been the practice to ask the question in this form. If the hon. Member had simply asked the question when the papers would be produced, he (Sir J. C. Hobhouse) would have told him. Under all these circumstances, he would therefore be justified in giving no answer at all; but he had no objection to say that, following the precedent of the war in the Sutlej, the House would receive all the papers so soon as the wars were over, when he would be ready to furnish all the information that any hon. Member might require.
§ MR. G. THOMPSONgave notice, that he should on Monday next move, in reference to that part of the Queen's Speech informing Parliament that a war had broken out in the Punjaub, that an Address he presented to Her Majesty, praying Her Majesty to direct the Papers to be laid before the House without further delay, and then justify the statement he had made.
§ Subject dropped.