§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, he wished to ask the Lord Privy Seal, Whether he was in a position to state the cause of the delay which had arisen in the distribution of the booty taken by Sir George Whitlock's force at Kirwee. The circumstances were these. Kirwee had been in the possession of two chiefs named Nardain Rao and Madho Rao, relatives of the late Peishwah, and cousins of Nana Sahib. On the occurrence of the outbreak or mutiny they declared themselves against us, cast fifty guns, raised troops, and corresponded with Nana Sahib, gave assistance to the defeated troops of the Nawab of Banda, and were in all respects rebels. On the advance of Sir George Whitlock their force dispersed, and they ultimately gave themselves up. That was on the 3rd of June, 1858, and all their property was taken possession of by the British troops. The treasure found in their palace amounted to a large sum. They had in coin and bullion £430,000, and jewels of the estimated value of £300,000, in addition to a sum of £90,000 which they had plundered from the ryots. The latter amount was paid over to Mr. Commissioner Mayne, of Banda. They possessed also £325,000 in the Government 5 per Cents, which were confiscated. The sum of £430,000 and the jewels were placed in the treasury at Allahabad; the money was credited to Sir George Whitlock's force, and 5 per cent interest was allowed. Not one rupee of the amount, however, had yet been distributed, it remained in the treasury; and, like many other sums over which the State had no honest control, he was afraid it had figured in the statement of Mr. Wilson as money which might be disposable by 1743 the Government so as to enable them to dispense with a further loan. The Governor General stated early in 1858, or towards the end of 1857, that all movable property of the rebels, such as was ordinarily treated as prize, was in this case to be so considered; but to this hour he had never seen any Order in Council—and if any such existed he was totally unaware of it—declaring under what conditions the booty taken in India was to be distributed. He must say that in this case, as well as in that of the Delhi and Lucknow prize money, a very great want of consideration for the army had been shown by the authorities. Such a state of things was of great public detriment. It was considered in a certain degree to have contributed to that lamentable catastrophe, the mutiny of one half of the local European army, an event most deplorable in itself, but still more deplorable from the course which Her Majesty's Government had pursued in consequence of it. In reference to this subject he would read to their Lordships a paragraph from the one of the papers laid on the table on the subject of amalgamation of the two European armies:—
For years past a painful conviction had pervaded the army that the Government had not behaved fairly to it in the matter of prize, a conviction which led to the destruction in Lucknow alone of property to the extent of many thousands of pounds, to the destruction, indeed, of all frangible property which could not be appropriated by the captors, who (and the men were not Company's soldiers) declared 'Government should make nothing by it.'This was the state of feeling which was produced in the army by a neglect of their interests. The soldier was naturally desirous to possess at once that which he had gained, sometimes to be at once employed—in many cases to be sent home to his family. Certainly nothing could be more important to the public interest than that the sums gained gloriously in war should be at once distributed to the soldiers. It was as necessary for the Government of India to be on good terms with the army, as it was for the Government of England to be on good terms with the people, for it was by the army alone that we maintained that empire.
THE DUKE OF ARGYLLsaid, that having received notice of his noble Friend's question, he made application to the Secretary of State for India, and the answer he received was that no report whatever had been received by the Indian Govern- 1744 ment with reference to the distribution of booty in question. His noble Friend was aware that the Secretary for India had no power to move in the matter, that the Indian Council were the ordinary judges in the matter of prize, and that the home Government could only review. He had received no information whatever of the circumstances connected with the capture of Kirwee.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, this statement of the noble Duke showed that the state of things was a great deal worse than he had supposed. There was booty captured to the extent of £1,150,000 so far back as June, 1858, and yet, not a word respecting it had been sent to the home Government.
§ LORD MONTEAGLEsaid, this was only one of a series of disrespectful acts of the Indian Government towards Parliament. In the face of the statutory law, which called for an annual production of all matters relating to the Indian revenue, they were left for years and years in perfect ignorance of these affairs. When his noble Friend was connected with the India Board he was at great pains to obtain the information—in fact, he was bound to do so, because he and the noble Earl were parties to the passing of the Bill which compelled the Indian Government to furnish information. But this was the second year in which he called their Lordships' attention to the wilful neglect and contemptuous disregard of their statutory duty which the Indian Government exhibited. This year there was not even that attempt at excuse which was made last year for the neglect of the form in which these accounts were to be furnished. He thought the Government at home were in some measure responsible for this contempt and disregard of the statute law.
THE DUKE OF ARGYLLsaid, that the last time the noble Lord complained of the non-production of these accounts the noble Earl opposite declared that it was physically impossible to furnish them in the time. Whether that were so or not, this matter now under discussion had nothing whatever to do with those accounts.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHThe Government of India is better off in cash by pretty nearly a million, to say nothing of the paper money, than it was before, and has never said a word about it.
§ LORD MONTEAGLEAnd they are bound to give us all information as to their finances.