The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-10 00:00:00

(From lie .Daily Ness.)

The great squabble about Lord Canning's Proclama-
tion and Lord Ellenborough's Despatch is " a very
pretty quarrel as it stands." We feel no call to take
any part in the fray, except to note and record its pro-
gress. The facts of the case—as far as they have yet
been brought to light—appear to be briefly these :
Lord Canning, with laudaole providencP, prepared the
draft of a Proclamation, to be issued as soon as Lneknow
should be taken, and forwarded the draft to the Com-
missioner in Oude, with permission to modify it as cir-
cumstances might require. At the same time, Lord
Canning, as in duty bound, communicated the draft of
this Proclamation to the Home Government. Its tenor
was not approved of by the Home Government ; and
accordingly a secret Despatch was transmitted to the
Governor-General, stating the objections to it, and in-
structing him to " mitigate in practice the stringent se-
verity of the decree of confiscation issued against the
landholders of Oude." So far both parties acted in their
right. The Governor-General had a right to get his
Proclamation ready beforehand ; the Home Government
had a right to criticise its provisions, and to urge him,
in the event of its having been issued before the criti-
cisms could reach him, to be lenient in enforcing his
harsh decrees. Our opinion of Lord Canning's Procla-
mation has already been stated ; further consideration
of the subject has led to no change of the views we ex-
pressed on Saturday. As to Lord Ellenborough's
Despatch, though we demur to the accuracy of some
of the statements in its historical retrospect, and justice
of some of its censures on past transactions, we concur
entirely in the practical recommendation with which it
concludes. But then comes the question whether, as a
matter of policy, or in justice to Lord Canning, the de-
sprech ought to have been published. For our own
part, believing that Lord Canning's seemingly unquali-
fied announcement that, with the exception of the lands
of six great landholders, all the lands in Oude were to be
confiscated, was likely to have caused the flame of war
to break out again in that province with increased fury,
we believe that it was necessary to explain, or retract,
the alarming expression in Lord Canning's Proclamation.
Bat it is impossible to decide with certainty on the pos-
sible effects of the Proclamation until we know the
exact import of the expressions used in the Hindostanee
and Persian translations of the document, and as there
is no reason to doubt that Lord Canning will have con-
formed to the views of the Home Government, it would
seem to have been advisable to leave him free to adopt
his own mode of averting disagreeable consequences, and
therefore to keep the despatch a secret in the meantime.
But it is not easy to say in the present state of our
information, who is to blame for its having been published
It was na oral that Mr. Disraeli, when asked whether it
was the intention of Government to sanction the confis-
cation of all the lands in Ou.ie should disclaim any
such intention. The language of his disclaimer, in so
far as it referred to Lord Canning's Proclamation, was
perhaps stronger than it needed to be; but any harm
which might have resulted from this has been aggravated
by the passionate precipitancy with which the ques-
tion was taken up in the Upper House by Lord Gran-
ville. It is his lori:ship's importunity that Lord Can-
ning and the public have to thank for the publication of
the despatch. As to the question whether it was the
intention to publish the despatch in lull, that is in
reality a matter of little importance. The withholding
of the paragraphs which Lord Ellenborough was under-
stood to say would be omitted, could have done but
little to diminish the danger—if there were any—of the
publication. The appearance of these paragraphs in the
sessional paper after it had been announced that they
were to be left out—and the simultaneous appearance of
a complete copy of the deepate:i in one favoured journal
and an incomplete one in another, is an allowable ground
for conjectures, and imputations, and recrimioatiAss
among partisans and political quidnuneB ; but the only
consideration that really concerns the public is that the
conduct of the English Government towards the people
of Oude shall be such as is sanctioned by justice, hu-
manity, and sound policy. As for Lord Canning, all the
antecedents of that nobleman forbid us to entertain any
serious apprehensions that he will inconsiderately throw
up a lucrative appointment. As for the knowledge ob-
tained by the natives of India that there is discord among
their rulers, they have been aware of that ever
since Warren Hastings and hie Council were at dagger-
drawing in a moment of extreme peril ; and yet the
course of English aggrandisement has never been mate-
rially impeded. The only real source of danger will be
in the perpetuation of this personal dispute with a view
to make political capital out of it for the one or the
other party.