The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-12 00:00:00

THE LAND QUESTION IN O UDE.

Whatever may be the merit intrinsically attach-
ing to Lord Canning's latest views of the land
question in Oude, they are certainly exposed to the
serious objection that they should either have been
adopted sooner or not adopted at all. The policy
may be wise, but it can hardly be opportune. TWO
courses mere open to us in dealing with the Taluok-
dars and their tenures. We andel. either purchase
the allegiance of these martial chieftains by yielding
to their demands, or we could reduce them to order
and submission by the strong atm of authority.
Something was to be said for tither course. By the
first method of proceeding w'..; should escape au in-
convenient obligation and a costly campaign; by the
second we should preserve unimpaired the privloges
of Government and the resources of the province.
Perhaps, in the long run., the former course promised
the most comprehensi•N advantages, but unfortu-
nately, it has only ber,n selected after all the charges
of the latter have lac.,en gratuitously incurred. 'We
subdued the Talookdars first, and conciliated them
afterwards, so that, we have surrendered at once the
fruits of our contraest and the indemnity for its cost.
The Talookdr.rs, or great landholders of Oude,
occupied when we assumed the administration of
the kingdom. a somewhat uncertain position.
During the chronic anarchy of the State they had
usurped many privileges and committed many
wrongs. 'lacy had encroached so unscrupulously
on the lands of the poor, that many village com-
munities had been dispossessed of their estates,
and the old distribution of the soil had been sub-
verted for the exclusive benefit of the powerful
lords. To such an extent had these proceedings
been carried, that the revenue fairly derivable from
the territory of the province had been in a great
degree lost, and accordingly one of our first acts had
bet;n to appoint commissioners with the duty of in-
,estigating the land titles throughout the kingdom.
fins measure, it was urged, earned us far more
unpopularity than the annexation itself, and ac-
cordingly, when the mutinies broke out, not even
the extraordinary abilities of Sir Henry Lawrence
could prevent the landholders of Oude From joining
eagerly in the rebellion. From that time, there-
fore, the game was in our own hands. The Talook-
dars had forfeited their titles by the act of revolt,
and it became competent to us either to insure
their loyalty by fresh grants and free concessions,
or to encounter them in the open field, and
appropriate to the uses of the State, by the new
right of conquest, the lands and property which
had long been alienated. -We did neither of those
things, or rather we have done them both, without
advantage either one way or the other.
Lord Canning, as we observed at the time,
was justified in delaring that policy of " con-
fiscation" which brought him into such disrepute
with Lord Derby's Government. There was a
:rood defence for the proceeding, and the principle
was intelligible. The Talookdars had in many
cases no valid title to their estates, and they had
incurred, besides, the natural forfeits of rebels.
The value of the land which by such forfeitures
would revert to the Crown was very considerable,
and the revenues of India, as everybody knew,
were sadly in need of augmentation. As a mere
question of administration, too, it might have
been argued that the Talookdaree system was a
bad one, and that the good government of the pro-
vince was concerned in its extinction. At any
rate, Lord Canning selected his course, and, as
that course confirmed the Talookdars in their hosti-
lity, the result was that we had to fight our way, inch
by iach, to the possession of Oude. In the end, after
a harassing and expensive campaign, Lord Clyde
was successful, every district of the province was
occupied or commanded by our victorious troops,
and the Talookdars lay absolutely at our mercy.
Then came the unexpected reversal of the policy
adopted. The Governor-General makes a triumphal
progress through the conquered territories, sum-
mons the humiliated Talookdars to attend his
Court at Lucknow, and surprises all India by there
freely giving them what, if it had been given be-
fore, would have relieved Lord Clyde and his bat-
talions of all the trouble of the war. No doubt, we
are thus insuring the loyalty of these chieftains and
probably the security of the province, but these
guarantees we could have obtained a few months
earlier at the same price, and with the saving of
the campaign into the bargain.
It is probable enough that Lord Canning's se-
cond thoughts may be best, and that, though our
Exchequer may be impoverished, our power may
be confirmed by this sudden enrichment of the
rebel Talookdars. Perhaps it is the true method
of dealing with such cases, but, if so, it is cer-
tainly unfortunate that the fact was not recog-
nised in time to save us from the labours
and burdens of a difficult campaign. As it is
we seem to have won our rights only for the pur-
pose of relinquishing them. The whole of Oude,
with its spacious and productive territories, is
placed by this last arrangement under that system
of tenure which effectually forbids any improve-
ment of revenue. There is not a doubt about the
expansiveness of its resources, but the increase
which will infallibly arise will not belong to the
Government. The settlement is to be perpetual.
A fixed rent is to be paid to Government, but after
that obligation is discharged the profits of the land,
however large, will fall to the Talookdars alone.
We cannot tax them or control them except
within very narrow limits. On their own estates
they will be feudal lords with heritable jurisdic-
tion, and it is but a barren sovereignty which will
pertain to the British Crown. Of course they are
well satisfied with such treatment, and will, we
trust, do good suit and service in return, but we
had put ourselves to the charges of a different
policy, which, though costing more at the outset,
was calculated to produce more afterwards, and
this policy we have now forsaken for that which, if
we had adopted it earlier, might have been had,
with all its results, for nothing at all.
This is the -weak point of the case as it now
stands. 'We may fairly hope that we have gained
a great point in the permanent tranquillisation of a
province so turbulent as Oude, but we might have
gained that point a few months ago at a far cheaper
rate. We must now put up with a material loss
unqualified by any compensation. We have got
peace and security, it is true, but these advantages,
instead of being acquired, as they might have been,
in a bloodless manner by the bargain we have now
voluntarily made, were won at the sword's point
and by a heavy expenditure of life and treasure.
Our policy has an air of magnanimity beyond a
doubt, for we have accepted the; obligations of
war and thrown away the prizes of conquest with
a lordly heedlessness and munificence, but whether
the Hindoos will give us full credit for such self-
sacrifice is another question. The war and the
surrender will, of course, produce their respecs
tive fruits. We have got our debt and we have
lost our revenue. We might have saved many
a lac of rupees by promulgating some
time since so liberal a concordat with the Talook-
dars as is now announced. We might have gained
many a lac year after year if we had kept the pro-
duce of our conquest. We have foregone our rights
for the sake of peace and quietness, and perhaps
with good judgment, but there was certainly no
necessity to add to the purchase-money the cost of
a previous war.—Tunes.

It is a curious circumstance connected with the
Court of Common Pleas, that amongst its judges there
have been three sudden deaths within five years. Mr.
Justice Talfourd, Lord Chief Justice Jervis, and the other
day, Mr. Justice Crowder.
AUSTRIA AND HER SOLDIERS —The following
is an extract of a private letter, dated the 7th inst., from:att
Englishman at Munich :—" The day before yesterday
some unfortunate wounded Austrian soldiers came through
here on their way home from the hospitals at Innsbruck.
They had all been severely wounded, and were unfit for
further service. The paternal Austrian Government,
therefore, thought it no longer necessary to take any care
of them, and a more pitiable, heartrending sight I have
nover seen. They were evidently half-starved, and took
greedily whatever the good natured Munichers gave them.
They wore scantily covered with the tattered remnants of
their summer uniforms, and some of them had merely straw
shoes, and no stockings ; and this with the temperature at
10 degrees below freezing point. It was sickening to think
of the sufferings of those unfortunate creatures travelling in
third-class carriages in such severe weather without suffi-
cient protection against the cold. There was but ono feel-
ing among the people here—that of execration against a
Government who coup behave with such cruel ingra-
titude to men who had shed their blood and lost their limbs
for the sake of their country."

MAGNETIC PIIANTOMS.—The name of phantoms
has been given by M. de Haldat to the fantastic forms which
iron filings affect when strewed over a sheet of paper
stretched quite flat ; and if the paper be covered with a glu-
tinous matter, these figures will naturally become perma-
nent. Magnets, moreover, produce another kind of phan•
toms ; for it is well known that under magnetic influence
iron filings will bristle up, rising to appreciable heights
above the surface on which they had been strewed, and at
the same time hanging together in virtue of the attractive
power with which they are animated ; so that solid figures
in relief are actually formed, but fall to atoms as
soon as the magnet is removed. M. Nickles, the well-
known philosopher and chemist, has just communicated to
the Academy of sciences a method of his for fixing these
phantoms. He first impregnates his paper with wax,
stretches it on frames, and then, after having strewed iron
filings upon it, places it upon the poles of the magnet under
experiment. The phantoms are soon formed ; and, in
order to fix them, he holds a hot brick, or the red-hot
lid of a crucible over the surface of the paper, taking cam
not to touch it. Tho wax melts, and is drawn up by capil-
lary attraction between the particles of iron;. the heat
being removed, the wax cools, and the phantom is
thus permanently fixed. It is singular to see the wax
sucked up by the filings, through the above-mentioned
agency of capillary attraction, and the paper quite denuded
of wax, although thickly covered with it before. It may
be asked what is the advantage derived from this discovery ?
It is this ; that from the curious grouping
.of the particles
of iron, permanently kept in the exact position into which
they had been placed by the magnetic force, the nature of
that force, which is still a mystery, may be carefully du-
dicd,and erhlps

ASSIZE IN TELLIGEN

NORTHERN Dec. 10.
(Before Mr. Sustice Wightman.)
Nearly the whole of to-day was occupied with
the trial, ,ef cases the particulars of which are unfit
for publict,,tion.
Mary An n Addey, aged 19, a good-looking young
woman, was indicted for the wilful murder of her
female child, .at Huddersfield, in the West Riding,
on the 19th of September last.
Mr. Blanshar d and Mr. Wheelhouse prosecuted;
and Mr. Manic a'efended the prisoner.
It appears that the prisoner was engaged inn he
mill of Messrs. 11-sattersley, manufacturers,
Huddersfield. For Lleme time previous to the 19th
September the prisocer's shape had
workmen d and
e
attention of some of her fellow
workwomen, also of Ja net Sykes, a witness, who
had on different occa.siolL3 made remarks on the
subject to the prisoner Iterself, who had inva-
jocularly. On the
riably treated the matte!
afternoon of the 16th of September Sykes re-
afternoon first-rate now,"
marked to her It" Thee,
and on the morning of the 2klth she met prisoner
coming to her work much latv than usual, and
looking very ill. It was proved by the evidence of
the girl's own father that during that night she had
left the house for the professed purpose of going to
the petty ; that her parents, after -waiting a consi-
derable time, went out to seek her, a nd found that
she was not where she had led them to expect. She
returned immediately afterwards, and complained
that she was very unwell. The next inorning, in a
field about 100 yards from the house, a child's body
was found, covered with blood and bearing all the
marks of premature birth. The umbilici xl cord was
torn, not tied ; but there were no marks o f violenee
to account for death. The surgeon, however, swore
that he believed the girl to have been recently de-
livered, and that the child had breathed. It.was also
attempted to be proved that a child's cry was 112ard
near the spot where the body was found, just at the
time when the girl had left the house, but this was
not satisfactorily shown.
Mr. Maule addressed the jury for the prisoner ;
he contended that it had not been provod with any
degree of certainty that the girl was the mother of
the child in question, or that there was any evidence
whatever that the child had ever had an indepen-
dent existence ; or, finally, that it could be shown
that even, if born alive, it had died a violent death.
Xis Lordship put all these questions to the jury
with much force and clearness, and the jury retired
to consider their verdict.
They returned into court after an absence of
nearly two hours, and stated that they had agreed
to acquit the prisoner of the charge of murder, but
requested further directions as to the charge of con-
cealment of birth included in the indictment.
His Lordship laid down the law on this point,
and the jury, after a short consideration, acquitted
the prisoner.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—NORTHAMPTON, DEC 9.
Martha Ann Lewis stood charged with having,
at the parish of Finedon, on the 17th of August last,
killed and murdered Ernest Wallington Lewis ; and
further, with having at the same place and on the
same day killed and murdered Lizzy Winifred May
Lewis. She was also charged with both offences
on the coroner's inquisition, and to each charge
pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Maunsell conducted the prosecution ; the pri-
soner was defended by Mr. O'Brien.
The facts proved in support of both indictments
were the same. It appeared, on the opening state-
ment of Mr. Maunsell and the evidence adduced in
support of the charges, that the prisoner was the
mother of the two deceased children named in the
indictment, the boy being two years and eight
months old, and the girl a baby of four or five
months old. On the 17th of August, about 6 o'clock
in the evening, Warren Chapman, who worked with
Joseph,Wallington, the prisoner's brother, on re-
turning home went, in consequence of something he
had heard. to look for the prisoner. On reaching a
pond of Mr. Mackworth Dolben's, he observed an
apron with a pair of scissors tied to it lying under
a tree upon the bank. and in the pond the body of
the boy Ernest W. Lewis, which he took out and
found was lifeless. A man named Desborough
coming by about the same time drew out the body of
the !baby, which was also in the pond. Ephraim
Lewis, the prisoner's father-in-law, on going down
towards the pond, met the parish constable Parker
carrying the dead body of the boy towards Finedon,
and went on towards the cottage, of Miss Dolben,
about 200 yards distant from the pond, where he
found the prisoner seated on the grass under some
trees behind the cottage garden, with her head bent
down and her arms resting on her lap. On being
asked where her baby was she replied. " They are
both in the water ; I threw them in."
Before the bodies of the children were found the
prisoner's brother, who had gone to look for her, had
found her at the place already •mentioned gazing
towards the pond where search was being made. He
asked her where the children were ; she answered
" Lower down," and sat still, Exemilig dull and de-
jected. She was led to the cottage of a Mrs. Archer,
where she remained some time in a state of uncon-
sciousness.

It was elicited, in cross-examination of the wit-
nesses for the prosecution, that up to within 12
months of the day in question she had been of a calm,
cheerful, and *happy disposition, but at that time a
melancholy had come upon her, which had increased
after the birth of her baby. She had left home
without any apparent cause, as she had no quarrel
with her husband, whom she said she loved. She
had on one occasion, it appeared, attempted self-
destruction, and on another occasion, when found
by her brother in a lane to which she had wan-
dered, the dejection in which he found her induced
him to remonstrate with her and dissuade her from
attempting suicide.
Mr. O'Brien addressed the jury for the defence,
which he said the opening of the learned counsel
for the prosecution must eady have led the jury
to anticipate was that the prisoner, who it was
proved had been a careful, fond, affectionate mother
until that sad change of which they had heard
had clouded her mind, was not at the time when
her children met their deaths by her hand in
such a state of mind as to be responsible for her
actions.

No motive for the act was suggested on the part
of the prosecution.
A number of witnesses were called who corrobo-
rated the evidence of insanity already given, among
whom were the surgeon of the gaol and the surgeon
of the Northamptonshire Lunatic Asylum, in whose
,care the prisoner had been under a warrant from
the Home Secretary. Both gentlemen gave their
opinion in the most decided manner that the pri-
soner was not, on the day in question, in a state of
mind to be accountable for her conduct.

The learned Judge having summed up the evi-
dence, the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty on
the ground of insanity.
A like verdict was returned upon the second in-
dictment, and no evidence being offered on the coro-
ner's inquisitions, a verdict of Not Guilty was taken
upon those charges.
The prisoner was ordered to be detained until
her Majesty's pleasure should be known.
John Byrne pleaded Not Guilty to a charge of
wounding William Gent with intent to murder, and
with minor intents.

Mr. Merewether conducted the prosecution, and
Mr. Cockle defended the prisoner.
It appeared from the evidence that about a quar-
ter past 12 a.m., on the lath of October, John Byrne,
son of the prisoner, had gut into a conflict in Brook-
street, Daventry, and that the prisoner went to his
assistance with a knife. A man named Marriott
remonstrated with him, upon which the prisoner
struck at him and afterwards at Gent, who was in
the crowd near to prisoner's son, and wounded him
in two places a little above and below the region of
the heart.

Mr. Cockle addressed the j ury for the prisoner,
and

The Judge having summed up the evidence, the
jury found the prisoner guilty of wounding with
intent to do grievous bodily harm.—Sentenced to 18
calendar months' imprisonment, with hard labour.
John Sewell, a boy nine years of age, pleaded
guilty to a charge of setting fire to a stac of straw,
the property of iis master, at Clipston, on the 25th
of July; and William Brown and Charles West to
the charge of setting fire to a hovel, the property of
Richard Scrivener of Cosgrove, on the 'l6th of
August.

The-boy Sewell was sentenced to two months'
imprisonment and to be twice whipped, and Brown
and West, both full-grown men, each to four years'
penal servitude.
The Court rose at eight o'clock.
DECEMOEP. 10.

Mr..Justice.Cromptou took his seat. 9 a.m.
George White, charged with the nittilsla:l.,%ter
of Alfred 11Thymn.n, at Wollaston, and G,or,e
-Walker 'and Frederick White with aiding and
abetting. him in that offene; all pleaded ." Not
Mr. Markham conducted the prosecution, and
Mr. Merewether watehecrthe case against the two
Whites.
It apTheared that the death of Whyman resulted
from a blow given in a fair stand-up light between
himself and George White, in which the other two
prisoners acted as seconds.
Mr.. Merewether declined addressing the jury,
and the learned Judge having summed up, the
• iv.-..y.convicted all the prisoners.
.George White, having already been in. prison
thrve months, was sentenced to two Calendar
months' imprisonment.
Edward Coe pleaded not guilty to a charge of