HL Deb 16 June 1845 vol 81 cc533-41

Order of the Day for taking into consideration Her Majesty's Message, read.

The Message having been read by the Clerk at the Table,

The Earl of Aberdeen

I rise to move an humble Address to Her Majesty, in answer to Her most gracious Message which your Lordships have just heard; and in doing so, it will be necessary for me to detain you but a very few minutes. I have already had opportunities in this House of bearing testimony to the great merits of the distinguished person who, on the present occasion, is the object of Her Majesty's gracious consideration; and I have not been sparing in those expressions of admiration and praise of that conduct which appeared to Her Majesty's Government to be so justly due. My Lords, those sentiments have found an echo throughout the whole country. In every part of the kingdom, in England, in Scotland, in Ireland, the presence of Sir Henry Pottinger has been welcomed with enthusiasm, and every effort made to do him honour. My Lords, it is clear that the vast majority of those places which have so united, and expressed such opinions, could have had very little means of duly estimating the real merits of Sir Henry Pottinger. They looked to the boundless field which he had opened to British enterprise, and to that inexhaustible source of commercial wealth and prosperity which by his means had been rendered accessible to our fellow countrymen. But, my Lords, I feel it my duty to say, that the real merits of Sir Henry Pottinger would have deserved your Lordships' approbation, and the approbation of his Sovereign as much, if they had not been attended with such magnificent results. For, throughout his whole conduct, in the relation in which it was my good fortune to stand towards him, there never wanted fresh occasion to do justice to the great qualities of his mind, and the conduct he pursued towards China. Sir Henry Pottinger, in being selected for the service in China, was removed from service in a school to which, I may be permitted to say, I think the State has on more than one occasion been greatly indebted. I know not how it is, whether from long habit of self-reliance, or the necessity of taking part at an early period of life, in the conduct of great affairs, but the fact is, that the service of the East India Company has produced men who, by the energy of their character, and the statesmanlike views which they have entertained, are peculiarly qualified to contend successfully with the greatest difficulties, and to confer the most signal advantages on their country. My Lords, when Sir Henry Pottinger went to China, he found everything he had to undertake strange and new—the business on which he was employed, and the people with whom he had to deal. The success, therefore, which has attended his labours, has occasioned much and very natural surprise. It is not astonishing that, with the assistance and by the gallantry of the naval and military forces employed in that war, he should have been enabled in no long time to dictate peace at Nankin; but, I say it is wonderful that he should have found the means of, by his character and conduct, so conciliating the persons with whom he had to deal, as to annihilate the pain of defeat, and convert suspicion and hatred into confidence and friendship. My Lords, looking to the difficulties with which he had to contend, he performed the service in a manner which cannot but be considered most remarkable. In the commercial details with which he had to occupy himself, as well as in the regulation of the administrative Government, he showed the same judgment, the same energy, attended with the same success; and I cannot help saying, that although it was the object of Her Majesty's Government to endeavour, as much as possible, to relieve him from all responsibility by furnishing him with every instruction calculated to meet every difficulty that could arise, your Lordships must be perfectly aware that in the situation in which he was placed, that was quite impossible for us to do, and that much was necessarily left to his own discretion. Now, my Lords, I believe I may say, that in the whole course of his service I do not recollect any act, certainly none of any importance, acting as he did on his own discretion, which did not fully meet with the approbation of Her Majesty's Government. My Lords, I am not about to enter into any details, but it may be, perhaps, satisfactory to your Lordships to know the result of that great opening which has been made for British commerce. I may be permitted to state, that the value of British goods imported into Canton alone, in the year 1844, amounted to 3,451,000l.; the value of Chinese goods exported for the British markets from the same port during the same period, amounted to 3,383,000l. This is a much larger sum than the annual British and foreign trade with the whole of China previously amounted to. Be it recollected, too, that this Return is confined to Canton; I say nothing about the northern ports of Shanghai and Amoy. I have every reason to believe that the trade in both those ports is rapidly increasing, and that there is every prospect of that increase being continued for a long time. Our intelligent Consul in that part of the world, Mr. Macgregor, gives the most favourable view of our commercial prospects. He says, that there is no appearance of any glut; that all persons engaged in Chinese commerce had fulfilled their engagements; that no bankruptcies of any note had been declared; and to this I myself may add, that I hope it will be in my power to lay such Papers before the House as will show, that the interest and the importance of these events are greater than any estimate yet made has affixed to them. Besides these observations, which I have thought it necessary to address to your Lordships, I have much pleasure in being able to state, that ever since the conclusion of our Treaty with the Chinese Government, the best understanding and the utmost cordiality have prevailed. Amongst other causes, I impute this to the practice of good faith; and I trust that nothing may happen to change the relations, or to disturb the friendly feeling which now happily subsists between the authorities and the subjects of both countries; and I earnestly hope that the people of England will recollect that advantages so important as those which we have obtained in China are not to be preserved otherwise than by a scrupulous regard to justice; and I also hope it will be remembered that no temporary benefit could compensate for the evil of placing in jeopardy the great commercial advantages which we have gained. If we are to preserve this great good, and to extend it, we must carry on our intercourse with the Chinese people in a manner calculated to inspire and to preserve their confidence. It is only necessary for me now to repeat, that this extension of our commerce, and the other advantages which we have acquired in China, are, in a great degree, to be imputed to the negotiations carried on by the subject of this Vote; and the preservation of those advantages, is in my opinion only to be effected by a strict adherence to the prudent, liberal, conciliatory, and enlightened policy of Sir Henry Pottinger. My Lords, I will not detain your Lordships longer on this subject, but conclude by moving, that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, returning the Thanks of this House for Her Majesty's most gracious Message, and to assure Her Majesty that this House will cheerfully concur in securing a Pension to Sir Henry Pottinger of 1,500l. a year for the term of his natural life.

The Marquess of Lansdowne

The noble Earl has truly stated, that there have been other opportunities afforded in this House at other times for evincing the disposition which prevailed throughout this House, as it did throughout the country, to acknowledge in the services of Sir Henry Pottinger some of the most eminent that have ever been rendered to this country. But I feel, that although that has been the case heretofore, it is impossible to allow this Answer to Her Majesty's Message to be put to the vote without endeavouring to express, on behalf both of myself and others, the sense of gratitude and approbation with which this House must view the intention of Her Majesty to confer a signal mark of distinction upon Sir Henry Pottinger, in testimony of Her approval of his services. Those services were alluded to by the noble Earl in a manner so distinct and emphatic, coming from a person having immediate acquaintance with the details of his services, that I feel it is impossible for me to add anything to what he has said in recommending to your Lordships the measure that is proposed, in acknowledgment of the services of Sir Henry Pottinger. The noble Earl has truly stated that those services have been of a peculiar nature, uniting circumstances which have never been conjoined before in the services of any man, I may venture to say, entrusted with important functions by his Sovereign. Sir Henry Pottinger went out to China instructed by one Government, and he performed the duties entrusted to him by that Government with its entire approbation; he received instructions of another Government, which succeeded in office the Administration by which he had been originally commissioned; and we hear from the highest authority, that those instructions also he executed in a manner to command their entire and warm approbation. It was most truly observed by the noble Earl, and it is that peculiar feature in the case to which I think your Lordships' attention ought to be directed, that having been enabled to give the greatest effect to a combined system of military operations, one of the largest which the world has ever seen, there was something in his proceeding and character which enabled him to convert feelings of what might have been expected to be mortification into a different spirit, and to engraft the happiest results of peace on the most triumphant operations of war. With respect to the immediate amount of the reward which had been proposed, I do not wish to urge anything on Her Majesty's Government, in any hostile spirit, beyond that which they have proposed. At the same time I must be permitted to say, that although I feel the inconvenience of urging anything on Government, beyond that which they may conceive to be the just measure of reward, yet, if they had gone further, and extended the provision to the amount of the largest which is made for Ambassadors retiring from public service, I do not believe that a single dissenting voice would have been heard in either House of Parliament. What negotiation—what Treaty has resembled this? What, in the result of the scheme itself, or of succeeding events, has been equal to it in extending the commerce of the country, and placing it on a footing which is immense in its immediate results, and still more in the magnitude of the results which at a future day may be expected? In what I have said, I do not impute to Her Majesty's Government any backwardness, after the emphatic terms they had put into Her Majesty's mouth, acknowledging the services of Sir Henry Pottinger; but I do presume that it was from some particular consideration not stated that their recommendation has stopped short where it does, from what motive I will not inquire. I am certain that on every ground such a course would have been most desirable.

The Earl of Ellenborough

Nothing ought to be more gratifying to Sir H. Pottinger than the encomium pronounced upon him by my noble Friend at the head of the Foreign Office, because my noble Friend knows better than any man — I may almost say he alone fully knows—the nature of the services rendered by Sir H. Pottinger. On that subject I shall not add a word to the eulogium of my noble Friend. I most fully concur in the vote I now proposed to your Lordships. But I cannot, in common justice to my gallant Friends, Sir Hugh Gough, and Sir W. Parker, and the officers and men of the Army and Navy, who with unparalleled zeal, energy, and valour, carried into execution the instructions they received, and thus enabled Sir H. Pottinger to give effect to the instructions he received for the negotiation of the Treaty of peace—I cannot, I say, allow to pass altogether without notice services such as those rendered by the Army and Navy—services to which I trace the great results dwelt upon by my noble Friend, because I know that, without their assistance, such results could not have been attained. What has been done with the Chinese has not been done by reasoning: the people of that country have not been reasoned into a peace, but beaten into it. The result obtained is due much more to our arms, than to our diplomacy. I should have scarcely taken this opportunity of calling your Lordships' attention to another circumstance, if the noble Marquess opposite had not appeared to have fallen into a strange misconception on a point respecting which I should have thought he must have been better informed. He seemed to think, that to Sir H. Pottinger was to be imputed not only the success of our negotiations, but that of our arms. The naval and military operations were not under the direction of Sir Henry Pottinger; nay, more, I have every reason to believe that Sir Henry Pottinger entirely disapproved of the operations which led to ultimate success: that he expressed his opinion of the hopelessness of success by means of our naval and military operations in the Yang-tse-Kiang, and imagined that they could not be effective anywhere, for the reduction of the Chinese to our terms except in the immediate vicinity of Pekin. I agree with my noble Friend in giving every just and proper tribute of applause where it is due for civil services; but I do not think it fair that a like recompense should not be given to those services of the Army and Navy, by which alone Sir Henry Pottinger was enabled to give effect to the instructions he received. Your Lordships, I have no doubt, will ratify the vote of the House of Commons as to Sir Henry Pottinger. Sir H. Gough has already received a high appointment, one of the greatest dignity, authority, and emolument, which the Government can confer. That is his just reward. But permit me to ask, how have Sir W. Parker's services been considered? Had he commanded a small squadron of ships and met and defeated another squadron at sea, no doubt he would have been rewarded in a similar way to Sir H. Pottinger. But Sir W. Parker's services were far beyond such as could be performed in a single action. They were extended over three or four months, in a river full of shoals, which was partly unknown. Surrounded by enemies, he had to conduct through an intricate navigation seventy vessels; and he not only conducted them through that navigation, but he did so with unvaried success. I know nothing in our naval records superior to Sir W. Parker's conduct of this fleet. Knowing, as he did, the principles—the just principles on which that war was to be conducted—that it was a war against the Government, and not against the people of the country; he did not derive from the war those pecuniary advantages which might be supposed to belong to his position. I think I am justified, therefore, in bringing under the attention of the House his services, as commanding their consideration. I have thought it my duty to say so much, as well from a regard to the great interests of the country, as to the reputation of the brave and honourable men to whom I have referred, and with whom I have had the honour of acting in the public service.

The Earl of Haddington

If my noble Friend had been in the country—as he was not—when an account of the great services to which he referred reached us, he would have known that there was conveyed to the two gallant officers whom he has named the Thanks of both Houses of Parliament. In the course of the discussion which took place on that occasion, noble Lords in this place, and hon. Gentlemen in another, dwelt at large, but not more than was well deserved, in praise of both these gallant officers. I am certain, that neither Sir W. Parker, nor the British Navy, can ever forget the speech of my noble Friend the noble Duke near me (Wellington) on that occasion. He did not confine his remarks to the commander of the military forces; but, in a way that was almost impossible in any respect to approach, he gave their fair share of approbation to Her Majesty's ships, and to the gallant and distinguished leader who conducted them. Further, Sir W. Parker has received the Grand Cross of the Bath, and he was made on his return home a Baronet; and he did not remain at home long enough, I admit, for his own comfort, before he was appointed to the most important command which it is in the power of the Government to give. He is about to proceed, as my noble Friend probably recollects, to the command of the Mediterranean fleet. I am not going to enter into a comparison of the civil and military services. It is undoubtedly true, that the way was made for Sir Henry Pottinger's negotiations by the exertions of Her Majesty's brave forces by sea and land. I am not going to enter on that subject. My object was to state, as an answer to my noble Friend's complaint, that both Houses of Parliament and the Crown have paid a tribute of gratitude and applause to the two gallant individuals to whom my noble Friend has alluded.

The Earl of Ellenborough

I know the Crown has bestowed on them all that the Crown can bestow. I believe that the Government is desirous to appoint the best officer they could get, and therefore nominated Sir W. Parker to the Mediterranean fleet; but that does not really touch the point at issue—which is pecuniary reward, and not rewards of honour.

The Earl of Haddington

I may be allowed, on the part of the Navy, to say, that other individuals besides Sir W. Parker might have been found qualified to take the command of the Mediterranean fleet.

The Earl of Ellenborough

With the exception of Sir G. Cockburn, there is no one with whom you can compare him as a commander.

The Marquess of Lansdowne

Having long lived on terms of intimacy with Sir W. Parker, and having heard from civilians, military, and naval men, the most unqualified testimony to his services as a great commander, I should be the last person, not only to say anything which might be considered a disparagement of such a man, but to omit any opportunity which could by possibility be taken advantage of, in doing him justice. But, as my noble Friend at the head of the Admiralty has said, the occasion for acknowledging those services has already been seized upon; for the honour of his Sovereign, the tribute of thanks by both Houses, and the command of the most important station on the globe, constitute a full acknowledgment of services, however great they may be.

The Earl of Ellenborough

I am sure the noble Marquess does not understand me. I merely stated that he was under an erroneous impression as to Sir Hugh Gough and Sir William Parker. The noble Marquess stated that they were under the direction of Sir Henry Pottinger, whereas they were not under his direction.

The Marquess of Lansdowne

They were instructed to be in constant communication with him.

An humble Address ordered, Nemine Dissentiente— To be presented to Her Majesty, to return Her Majesty the Thanks of this House for Her Majesty's most Gracious Message, informing this House that Her Majesty is desirous of conferring a signal Mark of Her Favour and Approbation upon the Right Honourable Sir Henry Pottinger, Baronet and G.C.B., in consideration of the eminent Services rendered by him; and particularly on account of the Zeal, Ability, and Judgment displayed by him, as Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, in negotiating a Treaty of Commerce with the Emperor of China; and to assure Her Majesty that this House will cheerfully concur in securing a Pension to Sir Henry Pottinger of 1,500l. a Year, for the Term of his natural Life.

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