Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/70

64 Muhammad Sháh informed Stoddart of his intention to comply with the demands of a Government whose friendship he still desired. He was weary in fact of an enterprise which had cost him much money and a great many lives. After some weeks spent in preparations for a timely retreat, the siege was raised on the 9th of September; Pottinger became the hero of the hour; and McNeill returned in triumph from Bághdád to Teherán.

NOTE TO CHAPTER V.

In 1842 and 1843, two motions touching the garbled despatches were rejected by the House of Commons, mainly upon Sir J. Hobhouse's assurance that there had been no garbling. In 1858, another motion resulted in the issue of an amended Blue-Book, edited by Sir John Kaye, which more than justified every word of his indictment on that subject. On the 19th of March, 1861, Mr. Dunlop moved for a Committee of Inquiry in a long, able, and temperate speech, to which no valid reply was possible. The debate that followed was remarkable, chiefly for Lord Palmerston's angry disparagement of 'Lieutenant Burnes,' and for Bright's indignant demand to know 'who did it.' In the end the motion was rejected by 159 votes to 49. Hansard, 3rd Series, Vol. 162.