A.—No. 1b

PAPERS RELATIVE TO STATEMENTS

12

" that they are made in bad faith, and must regard them, therefore, as calling for " immediate and most serious inquiry." To this you reply on the 30th June, the day following that on which you transmitted the Minute of the 13th June, which, I suppose from oversight, had not been despatched by the previous mail. I do not at present concern myself with so much of your Despatch as relates to Colonel Weare, or to the differences which unhappily existed between yourself and General Cameron. I have only to deal with it as it relates to Her Majesty's Government, and in doing so I wish to forget that any change has taken place in that Government. You state then that this case being manifestly a shameful one, you could have wished that Her Majesty's Government had at last peremptorily put a stop to an unjust and pernicious system, " by refusing, in accordance with the rules laid down " for the guidance of Her Majesty's service, and hitherto for so long a series of " years carefully and beneficially observed, to receive reports made in this manner, " and, by directing and requiring Colonel W'eare to make them through the proper " channel, and at the same time at least subjecting him to the reproof which he so " justly deserved, for having made statements privately against his superior officers, " which he should have made instantly and openly, or not at all." Having thus stated what you consider Her Majesty's Government ought to have done, you proceed to deal with what they have done. I have quoted the terms in which Mr. Cardwell expresses his confidence that the statements of Colonel Weare will receive a complete reply from yourself and General Chute, to whom they had been communicated. I now quote extracts from your reply. " You have been pleased to order me to make a complete reply to the " imputations made upon myself and my Government in the letters from Colonel " Weare and his brother, of the 13th January and 23rd of April last." .... " The imputations come from an officer serving under my command, that is, from " a junior against the Senior Officer in this Government. They are not made " openly and officially, through the head of his department, as Her Majesty directs " shall be done, but in a private letter sent through an unofficial channel to the " Secretary of State. This is a proceeding dangerous in itself as being subversive " of all discipline, and as an example which would be bad from anyone, but " especially so from an officer of Colonel Weare's rank and standing. It is also a " proceeding which is in direct disobedience of Her Majesty's instructions." " With every respect for yourself and your office, this proceeding is therefore " one which I should, under all ordinary circumstances, feel it to be my duty in " every manner to discourage and discountenance. I think it is therefore " especially my duty to do so in the extraordinary circumstances with which I " have now to deal." . . . . "On reconsidering these imputations, and the " manner in which they have been made, you will, I am sure, agree with me that " I ought not to be expected to make a complete reply to them, and that I act for " the good of Her Majesty's service in respectfully but decidedly declining to do " so." . . " For my part, I will not deign to deny such a charge, so " made, for it is only by denial that such a charge can be met; and with all due M respect for your position I must maintain my own, and I decline to answer or " in any way notice this imputation against myself." . I also think that I ought not to lower my Ministers by attempting to make " a complete reply to such an imputation, so made, against myself and them. I " therefore decline to answer or in any way notice this imputation as jointly made " against myself and them." " Nor will I make any reply to the imputation that in consequence of " pressure from myself and the Government, Major-General Chute and Her " Majesty's Forces have committed atrocities in this country " Though I have thought it due to myself and my position so decidedly to " refuse to notice the imputations to which I have been directed to furnish a " complete reply, I beg to state that if any cases of cruelty are brought to my " notice, I will see that the fullest inquiry is made into them, and that ample " justice is, as far as is possible, done."