§ MR. DISRAELIThere are such serious and, in some respects, such contradictory statements respecting the information contained in the last arrivals from India, that I think it would be greatly for the convenience of the House if Her Majesty's Government would make some authentic statement of the intelligence which they have received on this subject. Besides inviting the noble Lord at the head of the Government to make that statement I would also ask him whether it is his intention to lay any papers connected with the recent transactions in India upon the table of the House?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI cannot disguise that the accounts which have gone 1368 forth to the public of the intelligence recently received from India are in some degree contradictory, and, therefore, I am not surprised that they should have led to the question which the right hon. Gentleman has addressed to me, but I am only able to state in reply that all the information which Her Majesty's Government have received is that which has been communicated to them by telegraph messages, first from Cagliari and then from Marseilles, the messages conveying, although in somewhat different words, very nearly the same information. That information is as much known to the public as it is to Her Majesty's Government, and until the mails, which I believe may be expected to-night or to-morrow, arrive from Marseilles, we shall have nothing additional to communicate. The general outline of the intelligence which we have received is, in the first place, that we have had the misfortune to lose the Commander in Chief; in the next place, that the disaffection which existed only in a few regiments, according to the former accounts, appears to have spread to a greater extent among the Bengal army; and that a large number of the Bengal troops have, as stated in the despatch, "disappeared." From that I presume that they have returned to their homes, but that is the expression used, and no further information is given. On the other hand, the native troops which remained faithful to-their allegiance, together with some British forces, have had an encounter with the mutineers under the walls of Delhi. That encounter is stated to have resulted in the complete success of Her Majesty's toops—twenty-six pieces of cannon were taken, and the mutineers were compelled to seek refuge within the walls of the town. The walls of Delhi, as the House is no doubt aware, are not regular fortifications, but are merely upright walls, not possessing any of the defences which are usual in the case of fortifications. Further, it was expected when the intelligence left, that the town would be immediately assaulted; but, of course, the Government can know nothing of the result of that assault. When the despatches arrive we shall certainly be ready to lay before Parliament such portions of the communications as may be calculated to give to the House and to the public the fullest obtainable information as to the course of recent events. It may easily be conceived that in these despatches, when 1369 they arrive, there may be many circumstances, reasonings, and explanations which, from their very nature, it would not be desirable for the advantage of the public service to communicate; but whatever may be essential in order to afford full information as to what has occurred shall be presented; because, although not usual in matters of this sort, Her Majesty's Government think that this is a case in which the ordinary custom should be departed from, and that exact information should be afforded both to Parliament and to the country with respect to the actual position of affairs in India.
§ MR. DISRAELIMy question with respect to the production of papers referred rather to despatches already received by the Government before the absolute occurrence of these events, and which, perhaps, intimated their probable occurrence, than to the despatches referred to by the noble Lord. I do not wish to limit my inquiry merely to the production of papers giving only a narrative of the events which have occurred during the last few weeks. I wish now, however, to ask a direct question of the noble Lord, involving a matter of much importance in connection with the Persian war and the occupation of the city of Herat. Has the noble Lord received any information recently from that city to the effect that the person nominated as the Governor of Herat has sworn allegiance to the Shah of Persia; that the Shah has accepted that allegiance, and empowered him to coin money, such transactions being at variance with the treaty lately laid before Parliament?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONIn regard to the first question of the right hon. Gentleman, Her Majesty's Government will endeavour to select from the correspondence connected with the events in India that which appears well calculated to give the fullest information to Parliament without compromising the public service. If further information should be desired, it would be for those who think further information necessary to state their reasons for that belief. With respect to the right hon. Gentleman's second question, the Government has received no information with reference to Herat tending to confirm the report to which the right hon. Gentleman has alluded. He is aware that by the treaty the Persians were to evacuate Herat within a certain time, and we were to send 1370 an agent to that city to see that the evacuation was complete. That agent, according to the last accounts, had not yet arrived there; but when he does arrive he will of course make his report on the state of things at Herat.
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONI wish to put another question to the noble Lord respecting the events in India. I have seen in a public newspaper that in the encounter before Delhi the mutineers mustered a force of 7,000 men, and that the British force amounted to only 1,800 men, consisting partly of Sepoys, and the statement went on to the effect that with this force of 1,800 men the attack on Delhi was to be carried into effect. I wish to know whether there is anything in the telegraphic despatch received by the Government to justify that statement?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThe telegraphic message has given the Government no details of that encounter. The despatch simply states that an encounter had taken place under the walk of Delhi, and that twenty-six guns had been taken, and that Her Majesty's troops had taken possession of the heights round the city. I Perhaps, though no question on the point has been put to me, the House will give me permission to state the general outline of what the Government have thought it right to do. Immediately on the receipt of the information I have just described steps were taken by my right hon. Friend at the head of the Indian department in conjunction with my noble Friend at the head of the War Department, and his Royal Highness the Commander in Chief here, to select an officer to go out to India to take the place of General Anson. The offer was made to Sir Colin Campbell, who accepted it. Upon being asked when he would be able to start, the gallant officer, with his ordinary promptitude, replied "To-morrow;" and accordingly, the offer having been made on Saturday, he was off by the train yesterday evening. A telegraphic despatch was sent to Marseilles to stop the steamer which is to take the mail, which left London on Saturday night, until the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell, who, therefore, would not lose a single hour in reaching his destination. The House is aware that 14,000 men were under orders to go out to India before the arrival of the recent intelligence. Additional troops will now be sent out, and the House may rest assured that the Govern- 1371 ment will take all the steps necessary to meet the emergency. I should add that Lord Canning, the Governor General of India, has, in the meantime, on his own responsibility, done that which has been entirely approved of by the Government. He wrote to Lord Elgin, whom he thought his despatches would find at Ceylon, to request that he might divert for the Indian service a part of the force now on its way to China. I have no doubt that those despatches have reached. Lord Elgin, and that the request will be complied with, and the Government have made such arrangements with respect to China that, even if those troops should be for a time diverted from their original destination, still there would be found on the China station ample means to carry on the operations there.
§ VISCOUNT GODERICHsaid, he wished to inquire whether the Government were aware that it had been reported that Sir Patrick Grant had been appointed to the command of the forces by the Indian Government.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONWe really know nothing but what I have already stated. AH our information comes by telegraph, and it often happens that private-persons know, or pretend to know, more than the Government.
§ SIR EDWARD COLEBROOKEsaid, he would beg to inquire whether any additional reinforcements were going out to India from this country, or whether the reinforcements were to be confined to those originally destined for China, and which Lord Canning would intercept at Ceylon.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThe reinforcements certainly are not confined to the troops on their way to China. Fourteen thousand men were under orders for India, and would have embarked independent of the news just arrived; but the Government think it their duty to despatch as early as possible a considerable force in addition. Of course means must be taken by recruiting to supply the gap which will be thereby made in the forces at home.
§ SIR EDWARD COLEBROOKEsaid, that after the announcement just made by the noble Lord, perhaps it would be convenient for the House to know that he should not now bring forward the Motion of which he had given notice, to call the attention of the House to the inadequacy of the reinforcements proposed to be sent to India.