INDIA. THE REVOLT OF OUDE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 69, 28 August 1858, Page 4

INDIA. THE REVOLT OF OUDE.

The following despatch (the publication of which led to Lord Ellenborough' s resignation) was laid on the tables of both houses of Parliament on the 7th May last.

THE SECRET COMMITTEE OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL.

April 19, 1858.

1. Our letter of the 24th March,- 1858, will have put you in possession of our general views with respect to the treatment of the people, in the event of the evacuation of Lucknow by the enemy. 2. On the 12th instant, we received from you a copy of the letter dated the 3rd of March, addressed by your secretary to Secretary of the Chief Commissioner in Oude, which letter enclosed a copy of the proclamation to be issued by the Chief Commissioner as soon as the British troops should have command of the city of Lucknow, and conveyed instructions as to the manner in which he was to act with respect to the different classes of persons, in execution of the views of the GovernorGeneral.

.3. The people of Oude will see only the proclamation. 4. That authoritative expression of the will of Government informs the people that six persons, who are named as having been steadfast in their allegiance, are henceforward the sole hereditary proprietors of the lands they held when Oude came under British rule, subject only to such moderate assessments as may be imposed upon them ; that others, in whose favour like claims may be established, will have conferred upon them a proportionate measure of reward and honour ; and that with these exceptions the proprietary right in the soil of the province is confiscated to the British Government.

5. We cannot but express to you our apprehension that this decree, pronouncing the disinheritance of a people, will throw difficulties almost insurmountable in the way of the reestablishment of peace. 6. We are under the impression that the war in Oude has derived much of its popular character from the rigorous manner in which, without regard to what the chief landholders had become accustomed to consider as their rights, the summary settlement had, in a large portion of the province, been carried out by your officers.

7. The landholders of India are as much attached to the soil occupied by their ancestors, and are as sensitive with respect to the rights in the soil they deem themselves to possess, as the occupiers of land in any country of which we have a knowledge, 8. "Whatever may be your ultimate and undisclosed intentions, your proclamation will appear to deprive the great body of the people of all hope upon the subject most dear to them as individuals ; while the substitution of our rule for that of their native sovereign has naturally excited against us whatever they may have of national feeling. [9. We cannot but in justice consider that

those who resist our authority in Oude are under very different circumstances from those who have acted against us in provinces which have been long under our government.

10. We dethroned the King of Oude, and took possession of his kingdom by virtue of a treaty which had been subsequently modified by another treaty, under which, had it been held to be in force, the course we adopted could not have been lawfully pursued ; but we held that it was not in force, although the fact of its not having been ratified in England, as regarded the provision on- which we rely for our justification, had not been previously made known to the King of Oude.

1 1 . That sovereign and his ancestors had been uniformly faithful to their treaty engagements with us, however ill they may have governed their subjects. 12. They had more than once assisted us in our difficulties, and not a suspicion had ever been entertained of any hostile disposition on their part towards our Government. 13. Suddenly the people saw their King; taken from amongst them, and our administration substituted for his, which, however bad, was at least native, and this sudden change of government was immediately followed by a summary settlement of the revenue, which, in a very considerable portion of the province, deprived the most influential landholders of what they deemed to be their property — of what certainly had long given wealth, and distinction, and power to their families].

14. We must admit that, under the circumstances, the hostilities which have been carried on in Oude have rather the character of legitimate war than that of rebellion, and that the people of Oude should rather be regarded with indulgent consideration than made the objects of a penalty, exceeding in extent, and in severity, almost any which has been recorded in history as inflicted upon a subdued nation.

15. Other conquerors, when they have succeeded in overcoming resistance, have excepted a few persons as still deserving of punishment, but have, with a generous policy, extended their clemency to the great body of the people. 16. You have acted upon a different principle. You have reserved a few as deserving special favour, and you have struck, with what they feel as the severest punishment, the mass of the inhabitants of the country.

1 7. We cannot but think that the precedents from which you have departed will appear to have been conceived in a spirit of wisdom superior to that which appears in the precedent which you have made. 18. We desire that you will mitigate in practice the stringent severity of the decree of confiscation you have issued against the landholders of Oude.

19. We desire to see British authority in India rest upon the willing obedience of a contented people. There cannot be contentment where there is general confiscation.

20. Government cannot long be maintained by any force in a country where the whole people are rendered hostile by a sense of wrong ; and if it were possible so to maintain it, it would not be a consummation to be desired.

The following is the proclamation referred tot-

PROCLAMATION.

The army of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief is in the possession of Lucknow, and the city lies at the mercy of the British Government, whose authority it has for nine months rebelliously defied and resisted. This resistance, begun by a mutinous soldiery, has found support from inhabitants of the city, and of the province of Oude at large. Many who owed their prosperity to the British Government, as well as those who believed themselves aggrieved by it, have joined in this bad cause, and have ranged themselves with the enemies of the State.

They have been guilty of a great crime, and have subjected themselves to a just retribution.

The capital of their country is now once more in the hands of the British troops.

From this day it will be held by a force which nothing can withstand, and the authority of the Government will be carried into every corner of the province. The time, then, has come at which the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India deems it right to make known the mode in which the British Government will deal with the 'djokdars, chiefs, and landholders of Oude and their followers.

The first care of the Governor-General will be to reward those who have been steadfast in their allegiance at the time when the, authority of the Government was partially overborne, and who have proved this by the support and assistance which they have given to British officers.

Therefore, the Right Honourable the Governor-General hereby declares that Drigliejjie Singh, Rajah of Bulrampore ; Koolwunt Singh, Rajah of Pudnaha ; Roa Hurdeo Buksh Singh, of.Kutiaree ; Kasheepershaud, Talookdar, of Sissaindee ; Zuhr Singh, Zemindar of Gopaul Kheir ; and Chundeeloll, Zemindar of Moraon (Baiswarah) are henceforward the sole hereditary proprietors of the lands which they held when Oude came under British rule, subject only to such moderate assessment as may be imposed upon them, and that those loyal men will be further rewarded in such manner and to such extent as, upon consideration of their merits and their position, the Governor-General shall determine.

A proportionate measure of reward and honour, according to their deserts, will be conferred upon others in whose favour like claims may be established to the satisfaction of the Government.

The Governor-General further proclaims to the people of Oude that, with the above-men-tioned exceptions, the proprietray right in the soil of the province is confiscated to the British Government, which will dispose of that right in such manner as it may seem fitting. To those talookdars, chiefs, and landholders, with their followers, who shall make immediate submission to the Chief Commissioners of Oude, surrendering their arms and obeying his orders, the Eight Honourable the Governor-General promises that their lives

and honour shall be safe, provided that their hands are unstained with English blood murderously shed.

But, as regards any further indulgence which may be extended to them, and the condition in which they may hereafter be placed, they must throw themselves upon ' the justice and mercy of the British Government.

To those among them who shall promptly come forward and give to the Chief Commissioner their support in the restoration of peace and order, this indulgence will be large, and the Governor-General will be ready to view liberally the claim which they may thus acquire to a restitution, of their former rights. As participation in the murder of Englishmen and English women will exclude those who are guilty of it from all mercy, so will those who have protected English lives be specially entitled to consideration and leniency. By order of the Right Honourble the Governor-General of India. G. F. Edmonstone. Secretary to the Government of India. Allahabad, March 14.