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former declaration, "that the province of "Oude cannot otherwise he preserved "than by the gradual and regular operation "of asystem of administration founded on "principles of substantial justice and of "comprehensive policy, and enforced by "all the power and energy of the British government.'

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The complete introduction of the British athority and management in the civil as well as military administration of the whole province of Oude would evidently combine more advantages to every party interested in the prosperity of that country than could be obtained by any other arrangement. By the stipulations which form a part of the first of the two propositions offered to your excellency's acceptance, your excellency would be relieved from the cares and hazards of a situation to which you have declared yourself to be unequal.

Effectual provision would be made for your comfort, affluence, and dignity, and for the situation of your family; the sons of your deceased father, the widow of your late brother, and his reputed children, would be maintained from the resources of the state; the existing pensions and jaghires would be continued to the persons now entitled to those provisions; your excellency would be exonerated from a heavy but just burthen, the debts of your predecessor.

The happiness of your subjects and prosperity of your country would be established on a durable basis; the hazard of failure in the resources of the country, and the danger of internal commotion, and of external attack, would no longer excite alarm; but whatever may be your excellency's sentiments with respect to the first proposition, the right of the company to demand a cession of territory, adequate to the security of the funds necessary for defraying the expence of our defensive engagements with your excellency, is indisputable.

For the purpose of affording to your excellency a more distinct view of the company's right to demand a cession of territory, I shall here state some of the leading principles on which that right is founded. The evils and abuses of the existing system of administration have gradually impaired the resources of the state, and these causes of decay in the revenue of the country must continue to operate with increased and accelerated effect, and ultimately must disable your excellency

from fulfilling your pecuniary engage ments with the company.

This argument is sufficiently proved by the actual state of the country and govern

ment.

In your last letter your excellency has indeed omitted your accustomed complaints of the state of the country and government; but your excellency's repeated declarations to lieutenant-colonel Scott, and to me, respecting the confused condition of your affairs, and the distress and decline of the country, added to the notoriety of the fact, justify a serious apprehension of the approaching failure of those resources on which the security for the payment of the subsidy must depend.

The punctuality of your excellency's present payments neither diminishes these apprehensions, nor, in any degree, affects the rights of the company to a satisfactory security against the operation of evils, of which the existence is evident and the effect certain; to refrain from demanding adequate security until the resources of the country shall actually have failed, would be to defeat all expectation of attaining the security to which the company is entitled.

The resources which had been found inadequate to the regular payment of the subsidy, must prove still more insufficient to support the additional burthen of a heavy arrear. Your excellency, indeed, has pledged your private resources in addition to the resources of the state, for the payment of the arrears of subsidy; but the extent of your private resources is uncertain, and while that species of security, from its nature must be fluctuating and precarious, it must also depend on the resources of the country, and consequently must be affected by the same causes which produce a failure in the payment of the subsidy. Neither the letter nor the spirit of the existing treaty could justify the British goverment in delaying the demand of satisfactory security to a period of time when such a demand must prove altogether nugatory; the intention of the contracting parties could not have been to pledge their faith to an impracticable and fruitless stipulation. At the time when the treaty was concluded, your excellency considered yourself to be bound to secure the company against the evil effects of a failure of the payment of the subsidy; your excellency's accession to the musnud afforded a strong hope that

your

your prudence and exertions would improve the resources of the country to a degree amply sufficient to secure the payment of the subsidy against any hazard of failure.

The disappointment of those hopes cannot exonerate your excellency from a responsibility which the altered state of circumstances has rendered more urgent. The intention of the British govenment could not have been to confine its claim of security to a period of time when the resources of the country should be inadequate to the payment of the subsidy, and to relinquish that claim when the approaching failure of those resources should hazard the irretrievable loss of that important branch of the company's revenue. This right of demanding satisfactory security is not confined to the extent of the established sum of seventy-six lacks of rupees. It is equally applicable to the funds necessary for defraying the expences of the additional force. The necessity of stationing the additional force in Oude has been proved already, and the consequent rights of the company under the existing treaty, arise from that necessity; entertaining these sentiments, and having satisfied my judgment of the justice and necessity of the measures founded upon them, I was deeply concerned to read the unqualified peremptory expressions by which your excellency has signified your absolute rejection of both my propositions and especially of the first. Your excellency will be pleased to recollect that this proposition is founded upon your own deliberate and formal declaration, that you were utterly unable to administer the affairs of your goverment; that 66 your mind was utterly withdrawn from "the goverment of a people who were "neither pleased with you, nor you with "them; and with whose evil dispositions, "enmity, disobedience, and negligence, "you were completely disgusted."The first proposition might seem to be acceptable to a prince who had declared his determined resolution to abandon the cares and hazards of public life, to descend from the musnud, and to return to private station.

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Your excellency must expect me to express some degree of surprise, that, under a manifest and encreasing aggravation of all those circumstances of vexation and difficulty, of embarrassed resources, of internal discord, of popular discontent and disaffection, your excel

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I have already adverted to the inference which your excellency has drawn from the punctuality of your payments, "that the necessity of territorial security "is wholly precluded." Your excellency must have observed that my solicitude is directed to future events, and to the necessary and inevitable consequences of the distressed condition of the country, and of the encreasing defalcation of the public resources. That your excellency will continue to discharge with punctuality the current kists of subsidy as long as you can derive sums for the payment of them, from the resources of your country, I am fully convinced; but under the ruinous system of the existing administration, under the operation of the evils, abuses, and oppressions, which prevail throughout your country, on what security does your excellency rely for the permanence of those resources from which alone your excellency is now en abled to fulfill your pecuniary engagements with the company? Your excellency has virtually destroyed the force of any argument founded on the punctuality of your past payments, by admitting the ruinous state of the country, by acknowledging your apprehension of an impending failure of your resources, and by declaring your own incompetency to remove the causes of these evils.

Your excellency in your last letter, is pleased to state" that you expect to de

rive ample profits fiom bringing into "a flourishing condition this country "which has so long been in a state of "waste and ruin""

From an early period after your excellency's accession to the musnud, down to this day, your excellency has never ceased to complain of the disorders and confusion existing in your dominions. Hitherto no effort has been made on your part to improve the system of your civil administration, or to avert the evils and dangers of which you have expressed your appre

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hension, and of which you have repeatedly experienced the effects. It has always been evident to me, that those mischiefs were insurmountable by any exertion of your excellency's power. Under a similar impression your excellency has deliberately avowed your despair of introducing any effectual reform into the system of your administration; but now, under the pressure of accumulated embarrassments, without any increase of power, without any additional means of acting, without any change of principle or practice, your excellency suddenly announces an expectation of ample profits, by bringing the country into a flourishing condition. Can your excellency then reasonably hope to induce me, by this unsupported assertion, to rest the interests of the company in the province of Oude, on a foundation so precarious and insecure as the expectation of an improvement, obstructed by the whole system of your government, and by every relative circumstance in the state of your affairs? Your excellency asserts, that your expectation of ample profits from the country will be entirely cut off," and that a heavy loss will accrue to your ex cellency from what you have termed a separation of your territory. Would it then be a separation of your territory to place a portion of your dominions in the hands of those with whose interest your own are indissolubly united? Whose justice placed you upon the musnud, and whose power now supports you in that exalted station? Would it be a separation of territory, and a heavy loss of profit to your excellency, to consent to an arrangement, under which the wise and benevolent administration of the honourable company would call forth all the resources of a ceded country, and would apply them to the defence of your remaining dominions, while the happiness and prosperity of the people would be effectually secured?

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A territorial cession would meet your excellency's explicit desire, contained in the following extract from your excel lency's letter to colonel Scott, of the 29th of Jemaudy Oussannee.

Let assets be pointed out and fixed "once for all, for the realization of "what it is intended to demand, so that "henceforth all cause of anxiety upon that "head may be removed for ever, and no "questions of increase, nor any alter"cation ever after arise; for these re

"peated altercations are productive of anxiety and vexation""

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Your excellency has anticipated in these words a powerful argument in favour of a territorial grant. By this measure the assets for the realization of what it is intended to demand will undoubtedly be fixed once for all; henceforward all cause of anxiety on that head will be effectually removed, and no question, nor any altercation, can arise.

The tract of territory proposed to be ceded, from the circumstances of its situation, will form a barrier against the attempts of any external enemies to disturb the tranquillity of your excellency's remaining possessions, while the improved and flourishing state of the country under the British administration will relieve your excellency from all apprehension of the turbulence and disaffection of the Zemindars in that quarter.

As the districts to be ceded will be taken at the amount of their actual jumma, your excellency's finances, so far from suffering by the proposed commutation, would benefit in proportion to the amount by which the actual collections from those districts are inferior to their present jum

ma.

With regard to the expectations which your excellency may entertain of increas ing the produce of those districts, your excellency is aware that the jumma of a considerable portion of them is already fixed at as high a rate as can be expected, and that the collections have been secured solely by the ability and exertions of Almas Ally Khan. The infirmities of old age and sickness have induced him to become desirous of relinquishing that charge, and whenever your excellency shall commit those districts to other aumils you must expect a diminution in the amount of the collections.

With regard to the jumma of the remaining districts no hopes can be reasonably entertained that it can be raised to the standard which it originally bore when those districts passed into the possession of your excellency's family, unless the introduction of the wise and equitable administration of the British government should afford such a prospect.

In addition to these arguments, it may be observed that the honour and dignity of your excellency's government will not, in any degree, be compromised by this ar rangement, as the territory proposed to be ceded was added to the possessions of your

excel

excellency by the aid of the British arms, and was not the original possession of your excellency's ancestors.

Your excellency has lately beheld, in the conduct of his highness the Soubahdar of the Deccan, an example of the beneficial commutation of pecuniary payments of subsidy for a territorial cession, although the hazard of failure in his highness's territorial resources bore no proportion to the dangers which menace the most alarming defalcation in those of your excellency's country; yet his highness wisely considered, that by securing the funds for the payment of the subsidiary force beyond the hazard of failure, he provided the most effectual security for the protection and prosperity of his dominions, under circumstances of infinitely greaterurgency, and of more confirmed necessity. I trust that your excellency will not neglect to to profit by this salutary example."

I have thus stated to your excellency the benefits and objects of each of the two propositions submitted to you. I have endeavoured to demonstrate to your excelfency the superior security and advantages offered by the first proposition to your excellency, to your family, and to your people. I have explained the right of the honourable company to require effectual and satisfactory security for the payment of subsidy against all future h-zard of failure; and I have proved that no other security can be effectual or satisfactory than an absolute and perfect assignment of territory; and, therefore, that if your excellency should unfortunately persist in declining the first proposition, the second will become unavoidable. I now repeat my anxious hope that your excellency will not refuse the benefits offered to your acceptance by the advantageous and honourable provision of the first proposition; at the same time it is my duty again to declare to your excellency, that, if you should unhappily be induced to persist in your rejection of that salutary arrangement, it is my unalterable resolution never to recede from the just and indispensable demand of territorial security. I shall, accordingly, wait with the utmost anxiety to hear from lieutenant-colonel Scott that your excellency has accepted one or other of the propositions.

I am much gratified to be informed by your excellency, that you are prepared to discharge the large arrears due on account of the additional troops serving in the province of Oude. Lieutenant-colomel Scott has received my directions to VOL. 9.

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present the account to your excellency, and as the charges therein stated have been actually incurred, for a considerable period of time, in the necessary defence of your excellency's dominions, I trust that your excellency will defray the amount without delay.

It is necessary, on this occasion, to com. municate to your excellency my decided opinion, that a proportion of the exses attending the embassy of captain Malcolm and of Mehedy Ally Khan into Persia, is justly chargeable to your excellency's account. The primary object of both these embassies was the security of your excellency's dominions, by averting the long threatened invasion of Zemaun Shah.

Mehedy Ally Khan was actually essen. tial in exciting the government of Persia to aid Mahmood Shah in the recovery of his possessions, and Zemaun Shah has, in consequence, been diverted from carrying into effect those designs against your exexcellency's possessions, which have recently been disclosed by the papers found in the palace of the late Tippoo Sultaun.

Captain Malcolm has been employed in negotiating an arrangement at the court of Persia, calculated to prevent any return of the same danger to your excellency's dominions. The amount of these charges shall be hereafter stated to your excellency. Your excellency will admit the obligation upon you to discharge a proportion of the expences incurred for the express purpose for averting from you exceliency's territories the dangers of a formidable invasion. But, in the event of your excellency's acceptance of the first proposition, I shall be ready so take into consideration an equitable modification of the just demands of the company upon you, as well on acconnt of the arrears of subsidy for the additional force serving in Oude, as on account of the charges of both embassies to Persia; these demands, in the case supposed, may admit of consi derable abatement.

Your excellency signifies, "That it is "equally a subject of astonishment and

concern to you, that, whereas under "the former government, the payment to the kists, though so much smaller in amount than the present, was kept constantly in arrear, and the jumma of "the country diminishing yearly, and

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yet not such propositions (meaning the "territorial cession) were brought for"ward, they should be agitated under

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your excellency's government, notwithstanding the punctuality of your pay66 ments. But the long delay which has occurred in making the requisition of a territorial security, is an evident proof that the British government was not disposed to make it until it became indispensably necessary. It has never been denied that the same evils, now the subject of complaint, have existed for a long course of years in the province of Oude. In proportion to the extent and continuance of the operation of such causes of ruin, their effect is more to be apprehended, and the necessity of a remedy is become more urgent and indispensable. Your excellency's peculiar friendship and attachment to the company might be expected to render you peculiarly interested in facilitating the success of this necessary arrangement. These considerations have contributed to confirm my determination to effectuate the completion of the affairs of Oude, while your excellency is seated on the musnud; for, while I am convinced that these salutary measures may derive great advantage from your excellency's co-operation, I am equally satisfied that they will tend to secure your own happiness and the prosperity of the country; I am sincerely anxious for the attainment of both objects; but the prosperity of the people of Oude must be the invariable object of your excellency's solicitude, and of the company's care.

With regard to your excellency's proposal of transmitting a detailed reply to my former letter, I beg leave to inform your excellency, that any detailed reply, either to that letter or to this, appears to me unnecessary; confidently expecting that your excellency will afford the most acceptable and indisputable testimony which you can furnish, of your real attachment to the country, as well as of your wisdom and prudence, and of your regard for the interest of your family and of your people, by dispatching, in reply to this friendly remonstrance, a letter containing your excellency's unequivocal acceptance of one or other of the propositions which have been proposed to you.

At all events, lieut-colonel Scott has received full powers to act in any exigency, without further reference to me. I rely, 'however, on your excellency, to unite cordially with colonel Scott, in a final and satisfactory adjustment of all difficules, according to the tenor of one or

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Lucknow.

Sir,-Par. 1.

By this dispatch you will receive, from the Persian translator to the government, the letter from his excellency the most noble the governorgeneral, of which I transmitted to you an English copy in my private address of the 5th instant.

2. His lordship directs me to state to you, that his lordship's sentiments are so fully detailed, and the measures which his lordship had determined to pursue with respect to his excellency the vizier, are so fully explained in that letter that his lordship does not think it necssary that you should suspend the delivery of it until you shall be furnished with specific instructions for the regulation of your

conduct.

3. His lordship directs, therefore, that you will take the earliest opportunity of delivering his lordship's letter, and that until your receipt of his lordship's specific instructions, you will regulate your negotiation with his excellency the vizier by the spirit and intent of his lordship's letter. Those instruc tions will be transmitted to you in the course of a few days.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE. Secretary to Government.

Copy.

To the resident at Lucknow. Sir,-Par. 1. I have received your several letters noted in the margin, and the Persian translator has laid before me a translation of the letter from his excellency the vizier, in reply to mine to his excellency of the 220 January.

2. The temper and disposition of mind in which his excellency appears to have entered into the discussion of the important subjects of my lettter to his excellency of the 22d January, and the general spirit and tenor of his reply to that letter, have excited my serious concern. His excellency's conduct on this occasion has been as unexpected as it has been evidently incompatible with the dignity of his station, with the interests of his government

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