HC Deb 08 December 1857 vol 148 cc355-8
MR. W. VANSITTART

said, he would beg to ask the President of the Board of Control, Whether, during the tenure of the Governor Generalship of India by the Marquess of Dalhousie, any recommendation was made by, or despatch sent from, the Supreme Government or the Commander in Chief in India to the Court of Directors or to the President of the Board of Control for an increase of European troops, in consequence of the extension of the British territories in the East, by the acquisition of the Punjaub, Pegu, Nagpore, Oude, Sattara, Jhansi, Berar, and other districts assigned to the East India Company by his Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad; if so, what was the date of such recommendation or despatch, and what was the date and the tenor of any reply that may have been sent; was any additional force of Europeans despatched to India in consequence, during the period referred to; and, if so, what number of men were sent?

MR. VERNON SMITH

said, that the question of the hon. Gentleman was a very long one. He begged to inform him that there had been no official communication between the President of the Board of Control and the Governor General of India at any time, as all such communications were made through the Court of Directors of the East India Company. Therefore, if the hon. Gentleman wished for correct information on the subject to which his question had reference, his best plan would be to move for any despatch, if such there were, to the East India Company.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Presi- dent of the Board of Control the questions of which I have given him notice. First, whether it is intended to include in the papers on Indian affairs promised in Her Majesty's gracious Message a Memorial which has been sent home by certain inhabitants of Calcutta, praying for the recall of the Governor General? The next question of which I have given notice was partly answered by a letter from the hon. Member for Southampton (Mr. Willcox) which was read in another place last evening. Still, perhaps, I had better put the question, making an addition to it. It is, whether there is any objection to lay upon the table all correspondence which has taken place since the commencement of the Indian revolt between any department of Her Majesty's Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and I will now add, with any other company, with reference to the conveyance of troops to India by way of Egypt?

MR. VERNON SMITH

Sir, in answer to the first question of the right hon. Baronet I have to state that it is not my intention to include in the papers to be presented to Parliament the Memorial of certain inhabitants of Calcutta forwarded to my right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Treasury. The right hon. Baronet knows from his colonial experience that the usual course in case of such petitions is, that they be forwarded to the Governor General or Governor of the Colony, as the case may be. This has not been done in this instance. The House must be aware that this is an excellent rule, as an answer may be made by the Governor; and as we are informed that in this case the Governor General has prepared a reply, we intend to send the petition back, in order that it may be forwarded through the usual channel—the Governor General. In answer to the second question of the right hon. Baronet, I must say that if he had not asked it, owing to a story being circulated to my disadvantage by persons who acknowledged that they believe the story to be impossible, but who at the same time took no pains to investigate whether it was true or not, I should have myself moved for the whole correspondence to be laid upon the table of the House. The right hon. Baronet has been pleased to say, although a similar measure of generosity has not been shown to me by others, that he is satis- fied with the declaration which was made on my behalf in another place. But the right hon. Gentleman now asks me, whether there was any additional correspondence with any other company. Additional correspondence has taken place on this subject with other companies. With regard to the correspondence which the Peninsular and Oriental Company have had with Her Majesty's Government, I must correct the Return, as the right hon. Gentleman wishes for all the correspondence that has taken place with Her Majesty's Government I have made inquiry of all the other departments of the Government, and they have not any objection to produce the correspondence; but in my own department, the Board of Control, no communications have been made except through the East India Company. I shall be delighted to show all that correspondence to the House, but I would rather not present it myself, but that the right hon. Gentleman should move for it, for I admit I have some zest in seeing a political opponent showing up his own friends. I hope, therefore, my right hon. Friend will take upon himself to move for the correspondence.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

I wish, Sir, now to put one or two other questions to the right hon. Gentleman upon the same subject. I assure the House that I ask these questions with a very different and much more important object than has reference to any personal matter. I shall, however, have no objection to move, as the right hon. Gentleman suggests, for I see public reasons for doing so, and I suppose I had better include the correspondence with the Court of Directors of the East India Company. I wish now to ask whether it is true that Lord Stratford de Redcliffe telegraphed to the Government in this country that he had obtained a firman from the Sultan for the passage of troops through Egypt, and whether he will have any objection to state the date of the most friendly offers to which the noble Lord at the head of the Government has referred, from the Emperor of the French and from the Viceroy of Egypt, for the passage of any troops which the Government might wish to send through their dominions? I would also be glad to know whether Lord Elphinstone telegraphed to Lord Canning that if such course were desirable he was prepared to send steamboats to Suez to meet the troops? I am aware that I have not given the right hon. Gentleman any notice of these questions; so if he wishes I will repeat them on another day.

MR. VERNON SMITH

said, it would be more convenient to defer giving answers to these questions, as the principal part of them referred to the Foreign Office, and it was desirable to verify dates before stating them.

MR. WISE

said, he wished to know whether he understood the President of the Board of Control correctly, as having said that the inhabitants of Calcutta were precluded from sending any Memorial to Her Majesty without its passing through the hands of the Governor General of India?

MR. VERNON SMITH

said, they were not precluded, because they had actually done it, but it was the practice that they should not do it, and of that they had been informed.