The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-15 00:00:00

he appears to consider that a period might arrive when
the publication of this despatch would be desirable.
(Cheers) I cannot help thinking tbat my noble friend
believes there is a possibility of such an explanation
being given by Lord Canning of the nature and charac-
ter of the proclamation as might render the publication
of the despatch desirable. Aly noble friend was perfectly
justified in presenting these resolutions to your lord
shipq, under the impression that the publication of
this despatch had been an act of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and that it was liable to censure ; but I should
have thought that after the manly and noble declaration
of my noble friend the late President of the Board of
Control—(cheers)—the other night, in which he assumed
to himself any blame that might attach to that publica-
tion, and in which be for the first time announced to his
colleagues the noble sacrifice which be bad made of him-
*elf, my noble friend, under one of those generous inx-

pulses (loud cries of Hear, hear) wiaieh charac-
terise him, would instantly have risen to abandon the
motion of which he had given notice. (Cheers, and some
• cries of " No, no.") My noble friend, on the contrary,
bas endeavoured, under the altered state of eircum-
staneee, to justify himself for persevering in his motion,
and has suggested a metaphysical analogy of personal
identity, and insisted upon that which nobody ever dis-
- pnted—the unity and eombination of a Cabinet, and its
responsibility for all the acts of all its members, I should
appeal from the metaphysics of my noble friend to Four-
mon sense, to which my noble friend the late President
of the Board of Control also appealed. With respect to
the responsibility of a Cabinet for the acts of each of its
members, I apprehend that responsibility must cease
when any particular member of a Ca.binet assumes to
himself the blame of any acts, and quits the Cabinet in
consequence. (Hear, and also from one noble lord as
• expression of dissent.) A noble lord seems to intimate
some dissent. I should like to know whether the noble
lords on the Opposition benches would like their Govern-
ments to be tried upon a different principle—whether
they think that any errorof an individual member should
attach to thet whole of the Cabinet, and that the whole
of it should be visited with the punishment of resigna-
tion. I think that the principle of responsibility can be
pushed to this inconvenient and absurd extent—(hear)
• ;because to hold that any person who selects the mem•
. hers of a Cabinet is to be so thoroughly responsible for
every act which they may perform, to be so bound up
with them, that if they commit an error in any respect
be must justify and adopt it, and in consequence resign,
• appears to me to be a principle which would be produc-
tive of the greatest possible inconvenience to the public,
and which could not be carried out without rendering
united Government impossible. (Hear.) I pass from
this to approach more nearly to the consideration of the
question which is immediately behre your lord-
. ships. I shall not follow the noble duke near
- me in any consideration of the propriety or impropriety
• of the annexation of the territory of Oude to the
British dominion, but there are circumstances con
nected with the population of Oude which appear to me
to have a most important bearing upon the consideration

• of the policy of this proclamation. Tour lordships are
aware that the principal part of the Indian army was re-
' cruited from the population of Oude ; that they consti-
tuted the best part of our Sepoy force ; that the greater
part of those persons were hereditary landlorders in the
territory of Oude ; that they generally left their wives
and children, and their native country ; that they joined
our ranks, that they served us with apparent fidelity, but
- at the same time with a constant reference to the end of
• all their labours and all their dangers—namely, when
• their service was past to return home, and to settle them-
selves again upon their native soil. Persons who had
- these local attachments and early associations connected
with the soil of their country were likely to feel an at-
tachment to native rule, even although it might not have
been such as a European might desire ; and there was
• nothing so likely, not merely to shock their feelings, but
to irritate their minds as to transfer the sovereignty of
their country from the native rulers to the British do
• minion. Their country was forcibly taken away from its
- rulers, and transferred to British dominion. All their
early attachments, all their local associations were rudely
invaded, and they were driven into that revolt which
has brought so much misery with it and desolated so
many of the fairest provinces of India. They fell bef,re
the irresistible power of British arms. They were sub-
dued, and they lay humble and prostrate before us.
The principal question was how we were to deal with a
people thus circumstanced, how they were to be treated
consistently with justice, humanity, and policy. Jus-
tice, unhappily, required a few terrible examples; but
with regard to the mass of the people, I am not
- afraid to confess that I think great allowance ought
to have been made for men who were driven
into revolt by some of the strongest motives whioh
- actuate the human breast. (Cheers.) I believe that this
• opinion is shared by every member of the Cabinet.
• Under these circumstances a proclamation was brought
to their attention, which proclamation appeared to them
to violate every principle upon which they thought the
Governor-General ought to act. That proclamation was
- as my noble friend, the late President of the Board of
• Control, has described it. It was a proclamation of
- wholesale, sweeping, indiscriminate confiscation. It may

. .
be very easy to criticise the terms of this proclamation,
• but it is impossible to assume that it only applied to a
• limited extent, or to a limited number of persons. It
- declares most distinctly that, with only five or six excep •
tions, the proprietary right in the soil, not merely of a
portion, but of th 3 whole of the province of Oude is con-
' fi-cated to the British Government, which will dispose of
that right in such manner as it may think best. Can
anybody doubt that to the persons to whom it was ad-
dressed this would go forth as a measure of irdiperirni-
nate confiscation f (Hear, hear.) Even your lordships
- with all your ingenuity, can put no other certain inter-
• pretation upon it than that I have stated ; and could

- those persons have received any other impression than
, that they ley entirely at the mercy of the British Govern-
. merit—that they were not merely exposed to confiscation,
but that the sentence had actually gone forth against
- them 1 (Cheers.) The restraining dames adverted to
by the noble earl (of Shaftesbury) shows, as my noble
friend (the Earl of Ellenborough) distinctly explained,
that tie confiscation must have taken place, because it
speaks of restitution. (Hear.) What, then, was to he
- dune under these circumstances t Here was a procla-
mation vieleting every prinoiple upon which her Majes-
ty's Government were di••posed to act with regard to the
. natives of India. Were they to remain silent i Were
they patiently to wait for explanatiens of which they
. had not the slightest intimation 1 (Hear, hear.) I quite
admit that if at the time the proclamation was sent over,
. or shortly afterwards, Lord Canning had intimated that
it required an interpreter—that some explanation was
necessary, and that he would furnish it at the earliest
. opportunity—the Government would have been much
to blame if they had not waited for such explanation be-
fore they sent out the despatch. But 13 suggestion of
- tali kind being received from any quarter, it seemed ne-
cessary to the Government to prevent immediately the
mischievous consequences which they believed would re-
sult front the issue of the proclamation, and accordingly
the despatch which has been so much criticised, bat to
which I subecribe in every part, wae, on the 26th of
April, sent out to my noble friend. Now the noble duke
• is extremely humourous on certain passages of that de-
spatch. I can only assure him, however, that his light
opinions on this subject are not shared in by the pue:te.
I believe it is this particular part of the despatch which
one person says ought to be written in letters of gold.
At the risk of exposing myself to the censure of the
noble duke I will read those two passages again, and ask
your lordships whether they deserve the character he has
• affixed to them
We desire to see British authority in India rest upon
the willing obedience of a contented people. There cannot
be contentment where there is general confiscation. Go-
vernment cannot long be maintained' by any force in a
country where the whole people is rendered hostile by a
sense of wrong, and if it were possible so to maintain it it
would not be a consummation to be desired."
These are the sentiments which aotuate the Govern-
ment in the despatch so severely criticised or ridiculed
by the noble duke. But, my lords, I think a fallacy
' has run through the whole of the discussion this even-
ing. The resolutions condemn the publication of this
despatch. But my noble friend (the Etrl of Elle n-
borough) has generously, and in the most manly
and straightforward manner, assumed the whole
blame of that publication. Surely, then, common
sense and fairness and justice require that the Govern-
meet, as a Government, should be exonerated from re-
sponsibility. (Cheere ) If this is so, then it must be
assumed that they did not intend is publish the docu•
meat, and that it was a secret despatch. Yet the whole
argument of my noble friend (the Earl of Shaftesbury)
has turned upon the mischief which would arise from
its publication in India in weakening the authority of
' the Governor• General, whereas if it were intended as a
- secret despatch it was not open to criticism at all. Of
course some of your lordships, if the duty had devolved
upon them, might have written the letter with a great
deal more mildness and forbearance. Many who did
feel the danger of this proclamation so stronghly as my
• noble friend might have expressed themselves in more
guarded language. But my noble friend felt the neces
sity of immediate action, and he expressed himself in
the manly and honest manner which characterises him.
(Hear, bear.) I have admitted that the Government
would have been to blame if, expecting any explanation
from Lord Canning, they had not waited to ascertain!
the real grounds on which he issued the proclamation.
Now, there was one individual, at:least, in this country
who ea•l received notice of his lordship's intention to
furnish such an explanation, but who most unbal pily
did not think it part of his du' y to communicate it to
the Government. My noble friend the Foreign Secre
tary made the other evening a graceful acknowledgment
• of the readiness of the noble earl near me (the Eail e f
- clerendon) in communicating any public letters received
by him after his retirement from office; and I appre-
hend that it is the duty of a minister to present to his
suers ser all the information which he thus receives
- The conduct of Mr. Vernon Smith, owever, to m;
• noble friend (the Earl of Eilenborough)certaiely presents
a remarkable contrast to what seems to be the practice
in these caeee. A. noble marquis, nut now in his place
(the Marquis of Lansdowne) explained to your lordship.
&
the rcurnetancesa
under
a
vetlnthe which the communicatis a
of this important p
ioletter;n may base
e taped the attention of the right
allowance, how. gentleman.
Making every sort
domestic affairs in which he was engages,
for the
p
that the right hon. gentleman actually eeamtuanrs
cated with Lord Palmerston as to the propriety of tray.:
• mitting this particular passage to the President of the
• Board of Control. [Earl Granville here interposed an
observation which did not reach the gallery.] The noble
earl says that the right hon. gentleman stated nothing of
•
the kind.
Eearl GRANVILLE—No ! I said that the right hon.
' gentleman stated something of the kind.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—I am quite content
with "something of the kind." (Cheers and laughter )