§ The EARL of ELLENBOROUGHsaid, that seeing his noble Friend at the head of the Government in his place, he wished to repeat a question which he had put a fortnight ago, with respect to the production of papers relative to the war with Ava. He hoped that his right hon. Friend at the head of the Board of Control would by this mail have received despatches which would enable his noble Friend at the head of the Government to state whether or not he was 734 prepared to lay those papers on the table. He wished also to ask a question of the noble Earl with reference to a reflection which had been cast upon the conduct of General Godwin, the officer appointed to command the expedition. It had been imputed to him that, through his appointment, a delay had taken place in the sailing of that expedition. Now, he (the Earl of Ellenborough) knew that this was destitute of foundation, for he knew that General Godwin, being then at Umballa, received by express on the 18th of February orders to come and advise with the Government at Calcutta. He arrived at Meerut on the 23rd, and he then travelled for ten successive days and nights, reaching Calcutta on the 2nd of March; having made a journey of 1,000 miles in ten days, under difficulties, arising from the badness of the roads and the heat of the climate, of which few in this country had any idea. It was not until the 14th of March that the wing of a regiment required to join the expedition arrived at Calcutta, nor until a subsequent period that the 43rd Regiment arrived there; and it was not until the 24th of March that the troops were ready to sail. It was, therefore, impossible that the appointment of this officer to the command, could have delayed the sailing of the expedition. So far as he was able to judge from the information of which he was in possession, the appointment of that officer was a very proper one, for, as he was practically acquainted with the country, and had attained distinction there, he was likely to carry on the war with more advantage than a person who was totally ignorant of the locality. He did feel it very hard upon an officer serving his country to the best of his ability, at a great distance from home, and in the command of an expedition employed upon a most arduous service, that at the very commencement of that service his character should be thus maligned and misrepresented as that of a man unfit to command. Notwithstanding his own conviction and knowledge that no delay did arise in consequence of the appointment of that officer, he should be glad to have from his noble Friend at the head of the Government an assurance (if the despatches just received enabled him to give it) that no delay in the sailing of the expedition to Ava had actually been caused by the appointment of General Godwin.
§ The EARL of DERBYsaid, that he had no doubt his noble Friend who had just addressed the House was better acquainted 735 with the details of the circumstances to which he had referred, than any Member of the Government except the head of. the department to which the despatches were addressed. Despatches had been received at the India House the day previously, but they had not yet reached the Government. In consequence, however, of his having received from his noble Friend notice that he intended to put this question, he (the Earl of Derby) had ascertained that the Governor General made no complaint of any delay having taken place in the sailing of any part of the expedition; and he was sure that no blame could attach to General Godwin, because the whole tenor of the despatches was in the highest degree commendatory of the conduct of that officer. With regard to the other question, as to the information we have received from Ava, although the Government had not heard that the King of Ava had positively refused to make us any reparation, yet we knew that he had sent no answer to our message, and there was too much reason to fear that hostilities had commenced. The despatches which had been received should be laid on the table of the House in the course of a few days.