LETTER

Colonist, Issue 89, 27 August 1858, Page 4

LETTER

From Gr. F. JEdmonstone, Esq., Secretary to tlie Government of India with the Governor-General, to G. Coitper, Esq., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Oude.

Sir, —I am directed by the Right Honorable the Governor-General to enclose to you a copy of the proclamation which is to be 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 Oude 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 preceeded by a manifestation of our power; and that this would be especially the case of Lucknow, which, although it has recently been the scene of unparalleled heroism and daring, and of 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, had been publicly proclaimed before a heavy blow had been struck, it is at least as likely that resistance would have_ been encouraged by the seeming exhibition of weakness, as it would have been disarmed by a generous forbearance. 5. Translations of the proclamation into Hindoo and Persian accompanying this despatch. 6. It will not be for the Chief Commissioner, on communication with his Excellency the" Commander-in-Chief, to determine th£; 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 surrender 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 bulk of our troops, Native as well as European, will be needed for other purposes than to keep guard through its districts, is one of some difficulty. It is clear, 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 arms 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 guaranteed, and their honour; 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 Lucknovv 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 GovernorGeneral upon the individual character and past conduct of each. 12. There will be others who, although they have taken up arms against the Government, have done so less heartily, and upon whom, for other causes, the Chief Commissioner may not see 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 favor 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 Commissioner 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 neighborhood will be visited, not upon the individual offenders alone, but by heavy fines upon the villages. 17. I am to observe that the GovernorGeneral 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 tying 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 Commissioner should be prepared to meet any advances from them.

$2. 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 guarantee of life to those who, not coming within the above stated exception, shallsurrenderthemselves,

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. Edmonstone. Allahabad, March 3, 1858.