LORD DALHOUSIE AND OUDH.
(TO ma EDITOR OF THE " SPROTATOR.1 SIR,—In a paragraph of your "Topics of the Day," as an ex- treme instance of the implicit obedience of the Viceroys of India to an order that had been considered by the Cabinet, you say that "Lord Dalhousie dreaded and deprecated "the annexa- tion of Oude, "advising sequestration for a time, but 'a Com- mittee of Cabinet' studied the question, and accepted Sir J. P. Grant's argument for annexation ; the order went out, and Lord Dalhousie, though furious to the point of resignation, carried the measure steadily through." Lord Dallrousie's own plan was that of withdrawing the protection of our troops and the countenance of our Resident, and of intervening to impose our
own conditions, when anarchy ensued ; and in his own words, he was convinced "that this measure would lead to precisely the same result as the more peremptory course advised by others, but with some intervening delay." (" Oude Papers," 1856, p. 299.) Lord Dalhousie never advised "a temporary sequestration." He emphatically insisted on " the insufficiency of any temporary assumption of power," and on the necessity that the "administration of Oude in the hands of the Company" "should be perpetual in duration." (" Oude Papers," 1856, pp. 186-187.) Moreover, the Home Government did not prohibit Lord Dalhousie's plan, though they preferred Sir J. P. Grant's. They allowed Lord Dalhousie, if he should "feel warranted" in doing so, to "carry out his first suggestion ;" they "abstained front fettering his Lordship's discretion;" they left entirely to him "the mode of attaining the indispensable result." (" Oude Papers," 1856, p. 236.) The writer was probably misled by the article "Dalhousie," in the Encycloyedia Britannica, which contains the same error.—I am, Sir, &c.,
110 Holland Road, Kensington, W. EVANS BELL.
[Major Bell is right as to the time, but Lord Dalhousie did advise sequestration, which is not annexation, but a much weaker measure, leaving the monarch still titular King, with a right to all surplus revenues. As to Lord Dalhousie's option, it was only left him in compliment, not to his policy, but to his character and ability. He himself told the writer that "he con- sidered that Sir J. P. Grant's plan had been accepted, and not his own, but that he must act as if it were his own."—En. Spectator.]
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