§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONEsaid, that after what had fallen from the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex- 2038 chequer, he did not think it would be possible to go into the question which he (Sir J. Elphinstone) had given notice of his intention to bring before the House, for undoubtedly that question was a long one. The order of reference to the Committee on the transport of troops to the East Indies was divided into two portions. The first was, as to the conduct of the Government in sending out troops. The second, as to the most advantageous route by which troops could be sent. From the beginning he had considered the latter the more important question. He trusted that the matter would be fully discussed and finally decided next year; but in the meantime it was necessary for him to put himself and the other Members of the Committee right before the country, by stating that they were distinctly of opinion that it was the duty of the Government to, in the meantime, lose no means in their power to perfect the overland route to India as a means of transporting our troops. He was quite sure, from the information he had received, that they could be conveyed cheaper by that route than round the Cape; and on a fitting occasion he, and those who thought with him, would be ready to prove that the fact was so.
§ SIR EDWARD COLEBROOKEsaid, he should be glad if the hon. Baronet obtained another opportunity of bringing on this question, when the whole of the evidence was before the House. He was one of the Members of the Committee whose conduct had been animadverted on by the hon. and gallant Member for Westminster (Sir De Lacy Evans) for rejecting his Report. He was content then, as he was now, that the House should on a future occasion, when they had had an opportunity of reading the evidence, judge itself of the weight and importance of the circumstances connected with this question.