THE CONFISCATION OF OUDE. SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 606, 28 August 1858, Page 4

THE CONFISCATION OF OUDE. SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.

Subjoined is given in extenso, the despatch of the Secret Committee of the Court ot Directors of the East India Company to the Governor-General of India in Council from which it will he seen that either by carelessness on the part of the Government, or from some sudden change of tactics, the course indicated by Lord EUeuborougU on Friday night has been entirely departed from. On that occasion "Lord Ellenborough said he ■ had on the previous night promised the noble earl opposite, to lay upon the table certain papers counected with the recent proceedings in Oude, and he proposed to place before their lordships the proclamation itself as transmitted to this country, and also a letter from the Secretary to the Government of India to the Chief Commissioner of Oude by which that proclamation was accompanied. On booking through that letter very carefully, however, he found there were two paragraphs containing reasoning upon the subject, the publication of which might not be expedient. The publication of these paragraphs would, he believed, be attended with inconvenience to the public service, but, with that exception, the document would be laid before their lordships in extenso. The noble earl concluded by moving for a copy of the letter from the Secretary to the Government of India to the Chief Commissioner of Oude; a copy of the proclamation; and extracts of a letter from the Secret Committee of the East India Company to the Governor-General in Council." {

! On referring to the document itself, these very paragraphs which the noble lord considered should be kept so secret are given. They amount in fact, to a complete exoneration of the conduct of the people of Oude by the Derby administration. XETTEK. From G. F. Ednionstone, Esq., Secretary to to the Government of India with the Go-vernor-General, to G. Couper, Esq., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Onde, Sir—l am directed by the Right Honorable the Governor-General to enclose you a copy of the proclamation which is to he issued by the Chief Commissioner at Lucknow so soon as the British troops, under his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, shall have possession or command of the city.

2. This proclamation is addressed to the chiefs and inhabitants of Ou.de only, and not to the sepoys. , 3. The Governor-General has not considered it desirable that this proclamation should appear until the capital is either actually in our hands, or lying at our. mercy. He believes that any proclamation put-forth in Oude in a liberal and forgiving spirit would be open to misconstruction, and capable of perversion, if not preceded by a manifestation of our power j and that this would be especially the case of Lucknow, which, although it has recently been the scene of unparalleled heroism and. daring, and one of the most brilliant and successful feats of arms which British India has ever witnessed, is still sedulously represented by the rebels as being beyond our power to take or to hold. 4. If an exemption almost general from the penalties of death, transportation, and imprisonment, such as is now about to be offered to men who have been in rebellion, and had been publicly proclaimed before a heavy blow had been struck, it is at least likely that resistance would have been encouraged by the seeming exhibition of weakness, as it would have been disarmed by a genei*ous forbearance.

5. Translations of the proclamation into Hindoo and Persian accompanying this despatch.

6. It will not do for the Chief Commissioner, in communication with his Excellency the Comm-ander-in-Chief, to determine the moment at which the proclamation shall be published, and the manner of disseminating it through the province; as also the mode in which those who may snrrender themselves under it shall be immediately and for the present dealt with. 7. This last question, considering that we shall not be in firm possession of any large portion of the province when the proclamation begins to take effect, and that the hulk of our troops Native as well as European, will be needed--for other purposes than to keep guard through its districts, it is one of some difficulty, It is ctear, too. that the same treatment will not be applicable to all who may present themselves. !

8. Amongst these there may be some who have been continuously in rrms against the Government, and have shown inveterate opposition to the last, but who are free from the suspicion of having put to death or injured Europeans who fell in their way.

9. To these men their lives are guarranteed, and their honour j that is, in native acceptation, they will neither be transported across the sea, nor placed in prison. 10. Probably the most easy and effectual way of disposing of them, in the first instance, will be to require that they shall reside in Lucknow under surveillance and in charge of an officer appointed for that purpose. 11. Their ultimate condition and place of residence may remain to be determined hereafter, when the Chief Commissioner shall be able to report fully to the Governor-General upon the individual character and past conduct of.' each. 12. There will be others who, although they have hvUcn up arms against the Government, have done so less heartily, and upon whom for

other causes, the Chief Commissioner may not sco reason to put restraint. These, after surrendering their arms, might be allowed to go to their homes, with such security for their peaceable conduct as the chief Commissioner may think proper to require. 13. One obvious security will be that of making it clearly understood by them that the amount of favour which they shall hereafter receive, and the conditions on which they shall be re-established, will be in part dependent upon their conduct after dismissal.

14. The permission to return to their homes must not be considered as a reinstatement of them in the possession of their lands, for the deliberate disposal of which the Government will preserve itself unfettered. 15. There will probably be a third class, less compromised by acts of past hostility to the Government, in whom the Chief Commissioners may see reason to repose enough of confidence to justify their services, being at once enlisted on the side of order, towards the maintenance of which, in their respective districts, they might be called upon to organise a temporary police. 16. The foregoing remarks apply to the talkoodars and chiefs of the province. As regards their followers who may make submission with them, these, from their numbers, must of necessity be dismissed to their homes, but before this is done, their names and places of residence should be registered, and they should receive a warning* that any disturbance of the peace or resistance of authority which may occur in their neighbourhood will be visited, not upon the individual offenders alone, but by heavy fines upon the villages. 17. I am to observe that the Governor-Gene-ral wishes the Chief Commissioner to consider what has been above written as suggestions rather than instructions, and as indicating generally the spirit in which his lordship desires that the proclamation shall be followed up, without tieing down the action of the Chief Commissioner in matters which may have to be judged under circumstances which cannot be foreseen. 18. There remains one more point for notice. 19. The proclamation is addressed to the chiefs and inhabitants of Oude, not to mutineers. 20. To the latter, the Governor-General does not intend that any overture should be made at present.

21. But it is possible that some may surrender themselves, or seek terms, and it is necessary that the Chief Conirnissioner should be prepared to meet any advances for them. 22. The sole promise which can be given to any mutineer is that his life shall be spared, and this promise must not be made if the man belongs to a regiment which has murdered its officers, or-if there, be other prima facie reason to suppose that he has been implicated in any specially atrocious crime. Beyond the guaran-' tee of life to those who, not coming within the above stated exception, shall surrender themselves, the Governor-General, cannot sanction the giving of any specific pledge. 23. Voluntary submission will be counted in mitigation of punishment, but nothing must be said to those who so submit themselves which shall bar the Government from awarding to each such measure of secondary punishment as in its justice it may deem fitting.—l have, &c, (Signed) G. F. Ebhonstone. Allahabad, March 3, 1858. The following is the PBOCLAMATION. .

The army of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief is in possession of Luckuow, 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 j have subjected themselves to a just retribution. The capital of their country is now once more in the hands of the British troops. Prom this day it will be held by a fords 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 Eight Honorable the Governor-General of India deems it right to make known the mode in which the British Government will deal with the tnlookdars, chiefs, and landholders of Oude and their j followers. The first care of the Governor-General will be to reward those who have been steadfast in their allegiance at a 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 Eight Honourable the Gover-nor-General hereby declares that Drigliejjie Singh, Rajah of Bulrampore; Koolwunt Singh, Rajah of Pudnaha; Eao Hurdeo Buksh Singh, of Kutiaree ; Kashoepershaud, Talookdar of Sissaindee; Zulu- Singh, Zemindar of Gopaul Kheir; and Chundeeloll, Zeinindarof Moraon (Baiswarah) are henceforward the solo hereditary proprietors of the lands which they held when Oudo came under British rule, subject only to such moderate assessment as may bo imposed upon them, and that those; loyal inou will bo further rewarded in such mminor find lo hucli extent us, upon consideration of their merits .md position the Governor-Goueml shall determine

Appropriate measure of reward and honor according to_ their deserts, will be conferred upon others in whose favor like claims may bo established to the satisfaction of the Government.

The'Governor-General further proclaims to the people of Oude, that, with' the abovemetitioned exceptions, the proprietary 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, cliiefs, and landholders with their followers who shall make immediate submission to the Chief Commissioners of Oude, surrendering their arms and obeying his orders, the Right Honorable the GovernorGeneral promises that their lives and honor 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 fche 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 claims which they may thus acquire to a restitution of their former rights. As participation in the murder of English men 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 Eight Honorable the Governor-General of India. G. JF. Edmonstone, Secretary to the Government of India. Allahabad, March 14.

The following are the omitted pai'agraphs in the Ministerial despatch j the remainder we gave in our issue 'Extraordinary' of Thursday. .

[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.

11. 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 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 depiived 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.]