DELHI PRIZE MONEY.—QUESTION. (Hansard, 9 March 1860)

§ MR. WAY

said, he rose to put the Question, of which he had given notice to the Secretary of State for India, Whether the Batta granted to the Troops who were present at the siege and capture of Delhi is to be deducted from the Prize Money? Great alarm had been excited in consequence of a statement made by a high authority on the subject of India in "another place," to the "effect that the army which captured Delhi was to have deducted from the proceeds of prize property, to which they had entitled, the batta which they had already received for the same service. Now, he did not mean to detain the House with the incidents of the memorable siege of that city, which was the stronghold of the revolt, and which, from its extent is wealth, and its great resources was looked on as one of the strongest fortresses in Hindostan; but the House would remember the vast importance which was attached to the reduction of that focus of the mutiny, not in England only, but throughout Europe, and over the whole of Asia. It was then considered that the very existence of our Indian empire hung suspended on the fortune of the army before Delhi. For four months that gallant army was exposed to all the vicissitudes of an Indian season—to fevers and dysenteries and diseases of all kinds; it fought thirty-six battles, in every one of which it was victorious, though in every one it fought against apparently overwhelming odds. He believed that in after times the reduction of Delhi would be placed among the most brilliant achievements of the age. On the 14th September a general order was issued by General Sir Archdale Wilson promising the troops that all the property captured in Delhi should be equitably divided among them. That order was to be found in the order-book of the 9th Lancers, now stationed at Exeter, and he had been informed by a distinguished officer of the 60th Rifles who had seen it that it was to the effect he had stated. He insisted the more on this point because he wished to keep the question of the prize money distinct from batta, and the question of batta distinct from prize money. On the 21st of September the city was in our power, and the troops were only restrained from looting it by this general order issued by Sir Archdale Wilson. When the news of the capture reached Calcutta, Lord Canning ordered the troops six months' batta, being, he be- 235 lieved the utmost extent to which the Governor General had power to go. It was well known, however, that this caused the greatest discontent; many of the men threw the money away, and the walls of Delhi were everywhere chalked with the words, "Delhi captured and India saved for 36 rupees." Afterwards, twelve months' batta was ordered the troops; and it was plain from a document he held in his hand, and which was signed by that distinguished officer General Toombs, who signed it as Paymaster of the Forces in India, that this was a donation and not a payment on account of the prize money. After this he could see no reason why the batta should be deducted from the prize money, unless they were to be told that the achievements of the army had become less important by the lapse of time. Now, however, he was sorry to hear that some doubt had been thrown upon the matter by a statement recently made in the House of Lords, by a high authority on Indian affairs. The House and the country were lately delighted to hear that honour was to be done to the gallant men who had perished in the prosecution of the Arctic discoveries, and he hoped they would not be less just to the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in the capture of that city which was the focus of the mutiny. He believed he was expressing the sentiments of the whole army when he said that if they deducted a single pice or a single anna from the prize money to which the India army was entitled it would excite the greatest discontent and dissatisfaction.