§ MR. REESI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether a Brahmin was lately charged at Jhansi with tampering with the loyalty of the native troops at that station; and, if the answer be in the affirmative, whether the accused was convicted; and, if so, what punishment was inflicted.
§ MR. BUCHANANThe Secretary of State has seen in the newspapers the report of such a case, in which the accused was ordered to find sureties for good behaviour, but he has no official information on the subject.
§ MR. REESasked whether the Secretary of State would cause inquiry to be made with a view of taking due notice of the conduct of a magistrate who awarded so trivial a punishment for so heinous an offence as suborning troops to treason.
§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)Will the Under-Secretary also undertake to inquire as to the nature of the evidence?
§ MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)May I ask the hon. Gentleman whether he if. aware that all these troubles have come upon India since the Member for Montgomery Boroughs left; and whether he will consider the advisability of sending him back again?
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order.
§ MR. BUCHANANIt is not in our power to take that drastic action to which 1664 allusion has been made. It would be, I think, very unwise now to express any opinion upon this case, when we are not in possession of the details of the evidence; but I might point out that, after all, it is a serious offence with which this man was charged—namely, actively tampering with the Sepoys, and that he was turned out of the cantonment with contumely by a native officer.
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order