more than a general opinion on the mat- | ter; but, obviously, he would suppose, the Committee could not refuse to look into a question of that kind. All he could then say was, that neither in regard to that nor any other point could he conceive that they could wish to enforce beforehand considerations upon a Committee which he believed would be so constituted as to deserve and carry along with it the fullest confidence of the House.

Motion agreed to.

Select Committee appointed," to consider the question of Procedure in the House of Commons, and to report as to the amendment of existing Rules, and upon any New Rules which they may consider desirable for the efficient despatch of business.”—(Mr. Gladstone.)

War. It was not necessary for him to detain the House with any regular narrative of the events that led to the annexation of Burmah. King Theebaw ascended the Throne in 1878, and, not to go further back, ever since that time the relations of the Indian Government with that of Burmah had been anything but satisfactory. The history of those relations was contained in the Blue Book. Matters culminated in the Ultimatum which was sent by the Viceroy in October last year to Mandalay. That Ultimatum contained certain terms to which the Burmese Government refused to accede, and Theebaw issued a hostile Proclamation threatening to efface the heretic Christian barbarians, and to conquer and annex their country. On November 11 the late Government ordered

EAST INDIA, BURMAH (EXPENSES OF the Military Expedition to Upper BurMILITARY OPERATIONS).

mah which Sir Harry Prendergast commanded, and on January 1 Theebaw's Kingdom was annexed under instrucWhen Parliament met it was announced tions from Her Majesty's late Ministers. in the Speech from the Throne that Her Majesty had decided that the most certain method of insuring peace and order in those regions was to be found in the

What

"That, Her Majesty having directed a Military expedition of Her forces charged upon Indian revenues to be despatched against the King of Ava, this House consents that the re-permanent incorporation of the Kingdom venues of India shall be applied to defray the of Ava with the British Empire. expenses of the Military operations which may the present Government had to do was be carried on beyond the external frontiers of to deal with the situation so created. Her Majesty's Indian possessions," When they acceded to Office the Viceroy (the Earl of Dufferin) was on his way to Mandalay. Her Majesty's present Government awaited the opinion of Lord Duferin formed on the spot. He had not gone so committed as to prevent his forming an impartial opinion, and he had now telegraphed a very clear and a very strong opinion in regard to Burmah; and acting upon his opinion, and in view of the situation created by the Proclamation of Annexation, and the announcement in Her Majesty's Speech, Her Majesty's Government had had no doubt whatever as to the course which they should pursue; the annexation effected under the late Government must be maintained, and consequential administrative measures had been authorized. He did not know that he could give much idea of what those administrative measures would be. There could, however, be no doubt that Upper Burmah would be administered under the authority of the Viceroy; and it was hoped that a system

said, that he must claim some indulgent allowance as it was only a fortnight since he entered the India Office. The statement which he would make to the House would be short and simple. It was the intention of the Government, following the course announced by their Predecessors, to propose to both Houses of Parliament that there should be a Joint Committee upon the Acts relating to the Government of India; and it would be part of the duty of the Committee to consider whether the meaning of the 54th and 55th sections of the Government of India Act was perfectly clear, or whether anything could be done to remove ambiguities which existed according to many learned authorities. Meanwhile, the Government, acting in the spirit of the Act, sought, at the earliest possible moment, the sanction of Parliament to the step which had been taken of applying the Revenues of India for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Burmese Mr. W. E. Gladstone

to acknowledge the promptitude of General Prendergast and Colonel Sladen in their Expedition up the river and entrance into Mandalay. And, lastly, he wished to say a word as regarded the efficiency of the Indian and British troops in many duties often of a harassing character, and to acknowledge the ready assistance given by the Naval Commander-in-Chief and his forces in furnishing a Naval Brigade, whose services were worthy of all praise. He had already given some information upon a very mournful subject-namely, the conduct of the Provost Marshal at some executions in Upper Burmah. Further information would be given as soon as possible. In a communication received from the Viceroy that evening, he stated that, after inquiries, it was certainly untrue that the troops shot persons indiscriminately who had been made prisoners. Those shot at Mandalay during the past six weeks had been cases of convicted offenders, under sentence by civil officers. The Viceroy explained that occasionally, when taken red

of administration might be introduced suitable to the peculiarities of the country and the people of Upper Burmah, and not burdensome in cost. The Viceroy was pefecting a scheme with these objects; but Her Majesty's Government were not yet so fully in possession of his views as to make a more explicit statement at present. Having said that much, he thought the House would expect him to supply some information as to our relations with the great Chinese Empire, our neighbour. With regard to that subject, he need hardly say that Her Majesty's Government were most anxious to show a thoroughly friendly disposition towards China, and he had every reason to believe that that desire was heartily reciprocated by that country. It would be premature, however, to say anything about the precise arrangement that might be come to between this country and China; but the Government were hopeful that the negotiations begun a little while ago would be brought to a perfectly satisfactory termination. As to the cholera, about which there had been one or two rather alarming state-handed, the leaders of marauding parments, calculated to make people at home anxious as to the health of the troops, British and Indian, now employed in Upper Burmah, he was able to give most reassuring information to the House. Between November and January a slight outbreak of the malady did occur; but there had been no case of cholera among the troops in Upper Burmah since the first week in January. With respect to the cost of the Expedition, he was happy to say that the estimates which had reached them from the Viceroy at Mandalay, although they were necessarily rough, and perhaps to some extent conjectural, confirmed the statement made by the noble Lord the late Secretary of State for India, the estimate of the Viceroy being that the total cost of the Expedition would not exceed £300,000, even if it should reach that figure. The Secretary of State desired that the most ample recognition should be given of the prompt and complete manner in which the Civil and Military Authorities both of the Indian and Madras Governments had equipped, organized, and despatched this Expedition. He desired also to recognize the able conduct of Mr. Bernard, our Chief Commissioner in British Burmah, during the whole of this affair. He was anxious

ties were shot; but whenever that was done, it was in every case only upon the advice of the civil officer accompanying the column intrusted with the duty of suppressing these dacoits and so-called insurgents, both of whom robbed and murdered innocent villagers. They were cruel and barbarous, the Viceroy said, not to us, but to these innocent villagers. This dacoity had been an old evil in Upper Burmah, but exceptionally ripe under Theebaw's bad government. So far as the Viceroy could ascertain, there had been no undue severity on the part of our troops; and he spoke of the calmness and humanity of General Prendergast, and said Mr. Bernard would not countenance excessive punishment. For the safety of the country, and for the happiness of its inhabitants, it was absolutely necessary to suppress these gangs of robbers, and to punish these robbers and murderers. Further, the Viceroy said that the pacification of the country was being effected as rapidly as possible, although the fact that a large part of the country was covered with jungle rendered the work exceptionally difficult. Coming to the Amendment of which the hon. and learned Member for Aberdeen (Mr. Hunter) had given Notice, he observed

many years British Burmah had been a source of very considerable Revenue to India. Here was an Expedition undertaken for the defence of British Burmah, and so far as the taxpayers of the rest of India were concerned, they were only asked to make a small return out of this large annual contribution. As to the probable future of Upper Burmah, he did not wish to put before the House any very rosy or sanguine view re

to spring from our annexation of Upper Burmah. It was safer not to indulge in prophetic anticipations, which were often not realized, and he would not hold out any exaggerated anticipations. There was, however, one fact before the House which was of an encouraging character, and which would form much more solid ground than any anticipation he could put forward, and that was the fact that the population, the Revenue, and the trade of British Burmah had increased enormously since it had become a British Province. In 1862-3 the population of British Burmah was 2,500,000, while in 1883-4 it amounted to 3,700,000. The Revenue in the earlier period he had mentioned did not reach £1,000,000; but in 1883-4 it was nearly £3,000,000. At the former period, the trade of the country, including imports and exports, was under £2,000,000; whereas, in 1883, it approached £10,500,000. That was to say, the Revenue of British Burmah had been trebled in the period referred to, while its trade had been more than quintupled. If any such results should be obtained in Upper Burmah, then this House would have very good reason to be satisfied. The hon. Baronet concluded by moving the Resolution of which he had given Notice.

that his hon. Friend proposed to move that it was unjust to defray the expenses of this Expedition out of the Indian Revenues. He (Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth) did not know by what arguments his hon. and learned Friend proposed to support the Amendment. But he anticipated that one of these would be that this was a war for British trade. There could be no doubt that the annexation might have an effect on British trade; he hoped, indeed, that an im-garding the development of trade likely provement in the trade of the country might be one of its effects. But a war undertaken for that purpose would have been unjustifiable. Her Majesty's Government was, however, prepared to deny that the war was undertaken for any such purpose. The real ground of the Viceroy's action, as Her Majesty's Government concluded on reading the Papers, was the protection and safety of British Burmah, and of Her Majesty's other Dominions in that part of the world. The Government of King Theebaw had been endeavouring for some time past to establish political relations with other Powers; and its object was clearly to annoy the Government of India. It was obvious that the results of such conduct would_eventnally be dangerous to the Indian Empire; and it was evident that it was largely on that ground that the Viceroy based his action. If that view were correct, he (Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth) ventured to contend, on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, that the British taxpayers could not be fairly asked to pay the costs of this Expedition, and that it was properly payable out of the Revenues of India. There were two other arguments which might be used against his hon. and learned Friend, though upon the first he did not lay much stress. This was a comparatively small sum. So far as the information sent by the Viceroy was concerned, the expenses of the Expedition were, as he had before observed, estimated not to exceed £300,000. Not only, therefore, was this a comparatively small affair, but the Expedition was distinctly undertaken for the defence of British Burmah and other Possessions in that part of Asia. On the other hand, there was no ground for laying the burden of this war on the British taxpayer. But there was a further argument for placing this burden on the Indian Revenue which he would place before the House. For

Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth

Motion made, and Question proposed,

tary expedition of Her forces charged upon "That, Her Majesty having directed a MiliIndian revenues to be despatched against the King of Ava, this House consents that the revenues of India shall be applied to defray the expenses of the Military operations which may Her Majesty's Indian possessions.” — (Sır be carried on beyond the external frontiers of Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth.)

MR. HUNTER, in rising to move, as an Amendment

"That this House is of opinion that it would operations in the Kingdom of Ava out of the be unjust to defray the expense of the Military revenues of India,"

said, that it would be admitted on all | October, 1884, when the relations of sides that they ought to examine such a the Indian Government and the King proposal as that now made by the hon. of Burmah were admittedly friendly, Baronet the Under Secretary of State the Native merchants of Rangoon profor India with the most scrupulous care. tested against the views in favour of Indeed, it was impossible to exercise annexation expressed by the British too scrupulous and exacting a care, for merchants of that town, because they the House occupied a peculiarly delicate knew it would be entirely a burden. position in ascertaining whether the ex- If the annexation was brought about by pense of the war ought to be paid by the Chambers of Commerce, and, as was the people of India or the people of undoubtedly the case, this was a war to England. The people of India had no open up new markets for British trade, Representative in that House to protect for British interests, and not for Indian their interests; and there always was interests-if it was a war that was urged a danger that injustice might be done on by British merchants, and condemned in matters of account between the two by the people of India-then where was countries. Further, the relations between the justice or honour of imposing the the English Government and the people expenses of the war upon the Exchequer of India had been compared to that be- of India? What aggravated the war tween guardian and ward. There was in the eyes of the Indian people was some truth in the comparison; and as that, in their estimation at all events, there was nothing more dishonourable there never was a war less necessary, or to a guardian than to charge upon the an annexation less desirable. The Goestate of his ward expenses incurred for vernment of India, in the Proclamation his own personal ends, such conduct was on which they based their attack on peculiarly cruel and mean when the King Theebaw, spoke of the King's Reign guardian was very rich, and the ward as having been marked by the violation was very poor. There were two facts as of Treaties and by outrages on British to which, unfortunately, there could be subjects, and generally of his having no dispute. First, we had acquired an pursued a policy systematically opposed insolvent Province; and the noble Lord to British interests. But in a despatch the late Secretary of State for India had from the Government of India, dated expressed a hope that it would be pos- March 24, 1885, the Government desible to introduce a simple form of go-clared that— vernment, inasmuch as it was probable that for a considerable period the Revenues of the country would not defray the costs of administration. The time had been very unhappily chosen for increasing the burdens and extending the responsibilities of the Indian Empire, seeing that the Government of India had been driven to the last resource of imposing an Income Tax. The Revenue from British Burmah had never paid the interest on the first Burmese War. The cost of that war was £15,000,000, and the largest surplus in British Burmah, after making allowance for exchange, was only £670,000; and the time never would come when it was possible for British Burmah to pay its arrears of interest to the Indian Empire. Who were those who had clamoured for annexation? They were certainly not the people of India, or the Native merchants of British Burmah. Indeed, he denied in toto that there was any widespread feeling in the country favourable to the annexation of Upper Burmah. Even in

"Hitherto our Treaties have been, on the whole, respected, our commerce has received protection, and our officers have succeeded in maintaining friendly relations with the officials on the Burmese frontier districts." Those, then, were points in which the statements in the Proclamation were flatly contradicted by a despatch sent from India no later than March 24, 1885. The average British trade between British Burmah and Ava in the four years before King Theebaw ascended the Throne was £3,061,174; the average of the four succeeding years was £3,224,814, which, moreover, represented a relatively much larger volume of trade, because, in the meantime, the prices of articles had declined as much as 30 or 40 per cent. Mr. Bernard, our Chief Commissioner in Burmah, who up to that time had steadily opposed annexation, on the 28th of July gave a conditional and qualified assent to a different policy. What was it that occurred in the interval? It was two documents which purported to be copies of an

engagement entered into by the French | unjust-he might use a stronger termGovernment on the one hand, and by to place this charge upon the people of the Burmese Government on the other. India; and to give the House an opporThis Agreement, it was alleged, would tunity of expressing approval of that make France and French influence domi- sentiment he moved the Amendment nant in Burmah, and exclude British which stood in his name. trade from the Valley of the Irrawaddy. But what were the facts? The French Government, on September 26, 1885, in a despatch, informed Lord Salisbury that