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    History Of Parliament. Another Debate On...

    Beside this , he appealed to Ministers publicly to abandon Protection , and consolidate the great progressive Conservative party . " What was this corn-law , which gentlemen opposite « r « nted tb bring back—what was it , after all , but a system Af outdoor relief to the country gentlemen ? (' hear , hear , ' nd lauffhter)—diffe rent , indeed , from a Poor-law rate in this material respect , that whereas the Poor-law rate wag tax imposed on property . ; for the sustentation of poverty , the -corn-tax was an impost levied on poverty for thp aUrand izcment of property . " ( Hear ,-hear . ) / . ¦ seemed to have two articles of faith

    Mr . Moore — hatred of the Whigs , and a sneaking kindness for Protection . He made the House roar with laughter by the pert arrogance with which ho proclaimed to the world at large that "the Irish people had unanimously , irrevocably , and inexorably decided that Lord John Russell , at all events , should never again be at the head of the Treasury bench . " The debate languished very fast in the hands of Sir Johk TykeI / Ii , who thus maladroitly alluded to Disraeli ' s first appearance in the

    House—¦ ' « Hon . gentlemen opposite pi'etended to misunderstand what had taken place in the other House ; but , as his r iffhthon . friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had once said , ' there shall come a time when you shall hear me' so he ( Sir J . Tyrell ) would venture to say that there should come a time when they should , understand his ri"ht hon . friend—if they would only continue to listen to him . " ( Great laughter . ) . Mr . NeWPEGATE did not revive the dying interest of the discussion by saying that the opinions of his friends had not abated one jot—not one jot—on the question of Protection , and that all the Protection Societies believed in Lord Derby ; and the debate died in the hands of Sir Robert Inglis , who seemed hurt at the interruptions of the Opposition .

    IONIAN ISLANDS . Mr . Hume made a rambling speech on Monday respecting the conduct of Sir Henry Ward , in the Ionian Islands . He alleged all kinds of irregularities and tyrannical proceedings against the Lord High Commissioner , and compared his rule to that of Louis Napoleon . Sir John Pakington defended Sir Henry Ward , on the ground that the conduct of the Ionian people justified what had been done . They were evidently unfit for liberty , and ^ the punishment inflicted on the ringleaders was justified by the abominable acts they had committed . Mr . F . Peel concurred , with some reservation in favour of constitutional government . Mr . Hume , who had made a motion for a commission of inquiry , withdrew it .

    THE KAFIR WAR . The discussion on the Ionian Islands closed with the speech of Mr , Frederick Peel , and the House went into Committee of Supply . A vote of 400 , 000 ? . was proposed towards defraying the expense of the Kafir war . Sir William Molesworth taking up this text , preached a long homily upon the disastrous state of the Cape Colony , the immense increase in our expenditure there , and the pernicious character of our policy . The first paragraph of his discourse contains a geographieul and statistical pictui'e of South Africa , which will interest our readers .

    " Ho wished to call tho attention of the committee to tho groat and increasing amount of that expenditure , as shown by returns which had been lately presented to Parliament . That expenditure had gono on steadily and rapidly increasing for tho last twenty years . On the average of tho three yours ending 1850 , it had amountod to halt-a-million a year , or to about throo times tho average of tho throe years ending 1830 , or to about 51 . a head a your for oyory European colonist in South Africa , or to about 20 a . in tho pound upon our exports to South Africa . Those 20 a . in tho pound upon our exports to South Africa . Those

    exports rose and fell pretty much as our military expondituro increased or decreased , and were greatest immediately at tor a Kafir war . Tho roaaon was simple . Our oxports to South Africa consisted chiefly of morchandiso for our troops , with somo muskots and ammunition for the Kafirs , and during or immediately after a Kafir war thoro was abundanco of British gold in South Africa , and coraracrco ilounshod . Thorofbro , if wo cou l d withdraw our troops irom South Africa , and as a compensation for so doing wore to make tho colonists a present of all our morchan-< Iiho which thov actually eoniminnri . wo should mtilcn a most

    oxcollont bargain . Tho great increase in our South African military oxpondituro had arisen chiefly from two causos ; namely , from tho groat ; moroaso in tlvo extent of our South Alrican dominions , and from tho abolition of tho old and dieap systoni of self-protection by tho colonists . Jn tho coui-ho of tho lust ton yoars tho British Empire in South Alnca had boon mpro than double /! . In 18 'ltf it covcrod an arouot 110 , 000 squaro milos ; in tho course of tho noxfc ? ix years 120 , 00 0 squaro miles had boon added to it , and " was extondod to noavly tho 27 dog . of south latitude .

    o '" . "" " woro drawn in about that latitude right across "outn Africa , from tho Indian to tho Atlantic Ocean , it wouw bo about 1 , 000 miles long , and would constitute H ™ ? i * * ! ' lll 0 rn boundary of tho British dominions in ooutn Africa . Tho territory lying to tho south of that J " ° lm £ hfc bo called British South Africa , booauso ninourn « fi lfc woro IJrifcifih dominions , tho remaining tenth wi ! L torritoi T inhabited by our Kafir enemies , and W ti -FT , now Burroundod on all sidoa , bub tho seaside , » J JiwtwU dominions . Xlw area of British South Africa

    was 260 , 000 square miles , about the same a 3 that ( of the Austrian empire . Its population amounted to about 700 , 000 persons ; of these one-seventh , or about 100 , 000 , were of European origin ^ the greater portion of jwhom were discontented ; about 150 , 000 wei-o Hottentots and mongrel races , generally disaffected ; about 350 , 000 were Kafira and kindred tribes , most of whom were our avowed enemies ; and the remaining 100 , 000 were Toolahs , in Natal , of doubtful allegiance . In the midst of this discontented , traitorous , or hostile population , ' we bad about JO , O 0 P British troops , who alone and unaided were , according to' Sir Harry Smith , carrying on a war over an area of twice the size of tho United Kingdom , with tribes as fierce as the Circassians or the Algerines . ( Hear . )

    He entered at length into a history of our policy at the Cape , to show how we had extended our territory without necessity , and how all past wars , as well as the present , had been caused by our vexatious mode of dealing with the Kafirs . He condemned the civil policy of Sir H . Smith , and declined to form any opinion of his military system . Sir \ Villiam had given the tone to the debate , and it continued to flow on in an easy current , unruffled by any party breezes . Mr . Gladstone impressed on the House that the present vote did not represent anything like the total expense of the war . The figures of that expense were frightful and incredible , but that was not the worst pai't of the evil . The losses brought on by

    our frontier policy were fabulous . "We had " gone a hunting" to the ends of the earth— " not to found colonies or to extend them with a greater effect than might bave been done under a different system , but to deprive them of the opportunity of learning the lessons of freedom , of self-reliance , and of independence , which can alone train them to social union , and ensure their permanent connexion with this country / ' The lives and treasure were squandered for no conceivable purpose of policy , and the government in South Africa , permanently , costs more per head than the Government of Great Britain or Ireland . Then whom were we defending at this frightful cost ? Five thousand five hundred was the entire population , of Albert and Victoria in the district of Kaffraria .

    " If you were to buy up these 5 , 500 souls , men , women , and children , ten times over—if you were to transport them all in carriages and four from the provinces which they inhabit to districts where they would be in a condition of security , the expenditure would riot amount to onefourth of that which you are now expending on a Kafir war . " Excepting to the instructions given to General Cathcart , and especially to that special clause in which he was ordered ' to consider fully the question of our frontier policy , and to make a report on that question , which is to be submitted to the Government , and to

    the British Parliament , " he declared that he was perfectly convinced all the debates on the different kinds of colonial policy were in the main " idle , futile , and mischievous debates ; " for they " proceeded upon the false assumption that the regulation of the relations between the European settlers and the barbarous natives of South Africa were matters to be settled by a gentleman sitting in Downing-street . " The North American colonists were an instance of how they could best govern and defend themselves .

    " Sir , " ho continued , " if I am right in my opinions , it is to tho colonists themselves that wo must look for tho change in tho frontier relations of the colony . Wo must not only look to them for tho determination of their frontier policy , but wo must leave tho colonists to determine what that frontier is to be . It will not do to send genllemcn from this country to disport themselves in tho _ wilds of Kafiraria by adding once a week or onco a fortnight somo space of country as large , or two or throo times as large as

    Great Britain to tho British dominions of tho Capo . Whatover is done thoro must bo dono under tho responsibility of the popular constitution you aro about to accord to tho colony . Itoly upon it if you will give ( ho boon of local liberty without stint , and having rogard , of course , to imperial unity ; if you will givo tho colony this boon of local fiborty without stink and without limitation , you will find no disposition on their part to grudge tho Kacrifico and efforts which will bo necessary for tho Bolf-dofoneo of tho

    colony . " By rucIi measures tho bonds of attachment connecting England and tho colonies would be strengthened , and its growth mid development secured . LordJoimltusaTCLT , carped at Mr . Glndstoiui ' uspeecl ) , and mildly taunted him with not having solved tho question . Ho denied that tho caso of tho Nor !; h Americans wan n cane in point , defended tho ruinous murno pursued l > v hi « lato colleagues , and absolved Sir H . Uh

    Sm , ith of nl \ military sins , ttm John Paxington- ( - courscd fluently about whut ' had beon said by procodinjr speakers , and recommended tho IIouho to wait for tho noxt mail . Mr . Kokhuck harangued upon tho maxim that it \ h tho flito of tho black to disappear bof'oro ^ ho whito raco , and insisted on mipportintf tho coloniHtn . Mr . Ai )])« U ] ji ? y' htul confidence in tho pronont Colonial Secretary . Tho remainder of tho debate foil into tho hands of Colonel Thompson , Mr . V . Pool , Mr . Henry Drummond , and Mr . Hindley , and the vote was ayreod to .

    When the House of Commons met on . Tuesday , the Speaker had scarcely taken his seat , when Mr . Forbes Mackenzie moved that the House at its rising do adjourn until the 19 th iryjt . This was instantly put and carried . The unseemly hurry and unusual time chosen for making the motion caused great dissatisfaction . Other business was performed of a trifling character . Mr . G . Thompson , moved for leave to bring in a bill for establishing a . Ballast-heaver ' s office . The Speaker intimated that as the proposed measure affected the laws of trade , the House must first go into

    committee . The motion was altered accordingly , and complied with . The Chancellor of the Exchequer encouraged the scheme , but Mr . Henley and Mr . Gladstone , while admitting that the condition of the ballast-heavers needed some such act as that establishing the coal-whippet ' s office , which had worked well , seemed jealous of further legislation of that kind . It is probable that' the bill will be allowed a second reading , and then be referred to a select committee . Finally , the House was counted out , at half-past seven , while in committee on the Suitors in Chancery Bill . HOUSE OF LORDS . The Earl of EllenboboTtgh , in moving for papers on Monday in explanation of the grounds upon which the war with Ava had been undertaken , observed , that it might have been expected that the requisitions from the King of Ava would have provoked hostilities , and yet the Indian Government did not appear to have made any preparations for such a contingency . In that country , as in this , people seemed to cling to the belief that they could have as much or as little war as they pleased . In explanation of the error of this belief , and to show the magnitude and difficulty of the

    position m which we stood , it was necessary to recapitulate some of the circumstances connected with the last war with Burmah . In the operations of that war we employed no less than 40 , 000 men- —a larger force than the French sent to Algiers in 1830—a larger force than Bonaparte took to Egypt . There were 33 , 000 native troops , and 7000 Europeans . Of these latter the 13 th and 3 Sth Regiments left Calcutta in April , 1824 , 1800 strong , and in January , 1826 , they had not 500 men fitr for active service . Many other corps suffered in proportion . A large force landed at Rangoon and was surrounded by a superior force of Burmese , and

    detained for nine months , during the whole of which period they were compelled to subsist on salt provisions . Notwithstanding the large numbers of troops sent , the general commanding was never able to have more than 5500 men under arms ; and at tho conclusion of the war there were not more than 4000 fighting men under his command . It was true that we possessed some advantages now which we did not then possess , but the deadly climate remained the same . By moans of steamers we could convey troops and munitions ot war with greater speed than before ; but as soon as the army left the banks of the river , that advantage was

    gone . And some circumstances of the present time were decidedly more disadvantageous than in tho former war . On that occasion Rangoon was taken by surprise , and capitulated without loss to our troops . But how had tho present war commenced ? We had twice come into collision with the enemy , and twice our ships were farced to retire from tho contest . That retirement , however judicious on the part of the officer in command , must havo been a great encouragement to tho Burmese . The town of llnngoon , which we occupied before , Avas now destroyed , and a new town built beyond tho reach of our steamers , strongly

    fortified , and armed with a hundred guns . Another unfortunate circumstanco was , that the Punjaub ' could not bo considered in a sottled state , and that , therefore , thoro were not thrco regiments that could safely bo withdrawn from Bengal . During tho lust war no less than 28 , 000 men had been furnished from the Madras army , chiefly owing to tho great ability and personal influence of Sir Thomas Munro . But tho sepoys of tho Madras army had seonsemmchdistressmtho faniilicH of the native regiments which had boon sont to China , that he believed that tho Madras vogiuienta would « how groat disinclination to proceed on foreign Horvico to Bunnah . But notwithstanding all this , ho would

    nasuino , and ho did not doubt it , that wo should bo successful . What would bo tho consequence ? Tho King of Ava would probably fight to tho last , and huccobh would 1 ) 0 dearly bought . Tiio Govornor-( Jononil of India would then bo placed under tho influence of groat pressure from all sides ns to his policy . Tho press of Calcutta , under tho dictation of tho mercantile community , would call for annexation , in order that enterprising speculators might got access to tho groat teak fbruHtu of Buruuih , and bo ablo to find now Holds for trade by an overland communication with China . Ho hoped that tho prosH of India would bo troatod with tho disregard it . deserved- Money

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041852/page/3/