The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-15 00:00:00

THE KING OF OUDE.

Sir F. KELLY said, before the noble lord proceeded
to answer the question of the right hon. gentleman the
member for the Iduivexsity of Oxford, he wished to put
to him the question respecting the King of Oude of
which he bad given notice. From the moment intelli-
gence reached this country of recent events in India, the
Royal family of Oude forbore to urge their case upon
the attention of Parliament, and were content to await in
patience the moment when they could appeal to the jus-
tice of the Legislature. It was by their wish that he
forbore to revert to their claims. No communication had
reached any one member of the Royal family of Oude in
this country from the King, and they had only learned
through the ordinary channels of information that the
father of one of their number and the son of another had
been conveyed to prison, and was now suffering a harsh
imprisonment, under circumstances which rendered it
impossible for any of them to communicate with him or
for him to receive any communication from them. They
stated their belief from their knoWledge of his life that he
was utterly incapable of having done anything incon-
sistent with the fidelity which he had always shown to
the British Crown, not only when he was King of Oude,
but since his deposition. All that he was permitted to
ask on behalf of the Queen-Mother was that Government
would permit some communication, even subject to their
inspection, between the King of On-le and his family in
this country, and this he asked as an act of kindness, of
charity, and of justice.
Mr. V. SMITH said, as his noble friend at the head
of the Government would have to reply to the ques-
' tions that had been raised relative to the Euphrates
Railway and the Danubian Principalities, the house
would perhaps allow him to answer the questions
whether the King of Oude was still under duresse,
and under what charges he had been arrested. He be•
lieved, from the letters that had arrived by the present
mail, that the King of Oude was still under arrest, and
that the charge upon which he had been arrested was
complicity in the revolt that had taken place at Delhi.
That charge was made by a person who was to be ex-
amined hereafter. No doubt, an investigation into the
facts would take place as shortly as possible, and if it
should appear that the King and Court of Oude had had
nothing to do with the revolt it would be the duty of the
Governor-General to liberate him. But the hon. and
learned gentleman had rather overstated the case when
he said that the King of Oude was undergoing a harsh
imprisonment. The King of Oude was certainly re-
moved from his residence to Fort William, but there
every species of attention that could be paid to a Royal
prisoner was manifested to him. He was arrested under
Regulation 3 of the province of Bengal, which set forth :
" Whereas reasons of state, embracing the due mainte-
nance of the alliances formed by the British Government
with foreign Powers, the preservation of tranquillity in the
territories of native Princes entitled to its protection, and
the security of the British dominions from foreign hostility
and from internal commotion, occasionally render it neces-
sary to place under personal restraint individuals against
whom there may not be sufficient ground to institute any
judicial proceeding, or when such proceeding may not be
adapted to the nature of tho case, or may, for other reasons,
be unadvisable or improper."
That was the authority under whichhis Majesty bad been
confined, and he would now read the letter which the
Governor-General wrote to the King of Oude upon the
occasion of his arrest :

"Fort William, June 15.
" Sir,—lt is with pain that I find myself compelled to re-
quire that your Majesty's person should for a season he re-
moved to within the precincts of Fort William. The name
of your Majesty and the authority of your Court are used
by persons who seek to excite resistance to the British
Government, and it is necessary that this should cease.
Your Majesty knows that from the day when it pleased
you to fix your residence near Calcutta to the present time,
yourself and those about your Majesty have been entirely
free and uncontrolled. Your Majesty may bo assured,
then, that it if; not the desire of the Governor-General in
Council to interfere needlessly with your movements and
actions. Your Majesty may be equally certain that the
respect due to your Majesty's high position will never be
forgotten by the Government or its officers, and that every
possible provision will be made for your Majesty's conve-
nience and comfort."
There was no symptom of harshness in this letter. It
was his (Mr. V. Smith's) desire to treat the native
princes with the utmost consideration and courtesy, and
his noble friend the Governor-General was animated by
the same desire. No restraint had been put upon the
King of Oude's family in this country, and it was not
quite correct to say that no communication had taken
place between them, because a communication had been
brought to him from the King of Oude to his relatives
in this country, which he desired should be immediately
forwarded to the Queen of Oude. It was obvious that
as the King of Oude was in confinement at Calcutta for

.„.
the purpose of restraining any correspondence in which
he might be engaged with the supposed conspiracy, it
was impossible to allow any communication to take place
between him and his friends. His family in this coun-
try would for the present be cut off from that commu-
nication, but there would be no desire after the trial to
continue that restraint. The arrest of the King of Oude
was a measure of precautionary policy, of which the
house must approve. He trusted that it would turn out
that the King of Oude was perfectly innocent of any im-
plication in the conspiracy ; and he had no doubt that if
his name had been used without his authority he would
be acquitted. So long, however, as the Governor-Gene
ral had reason to believe that either the King of Oude or
his conrtiers were acting in complicity with the revolt
his noble friend would be justified in confining him.
(Hear.) _ _

Sir F. BELLY said it was true that a paper pur-
porting to have come from the King of Oude had been
brought to the Royal Family of Oude, but they did not
know how it had reached this country. (The hon. and
learned gentleman was stopped in his explanation by
cries of " Order.")
Mr. GRIFFITH should be happy to give his assist-
ance towards carrying out the Euphrates Railway, bat
should consider it unfortunate if other means of com-
munication with the East should be thrown into the
shade, &r looked upon with prejudice by Government.
For example, bow great an advantage it would be if we
Web able to send our large steamers filled with troops
to India through the Red Sea. Concurring with the
noble lord at the head of the Government as to the phy-
sical difficultios which lay in the way of the construction
of the proposed line, he was yet ofopinion that we ought
not to manifest any unreasonable jealousy of the prose-
cution of the scheme.

Lord PALMERSTON—Sir, the hon. gentleman the
member for Wiltshire, who began this discussion, need
have made no excuse for the course which he has
adopted, because no member of this house, owing to the
part whith he has taken in our deliberations, is better
entitled to draw our attention to any subject with re-
spect to 'Which he may deem it to be his duty to offer en
opinion. Tb,,, subjects upon which he has this evening
touched
relate to questions which are unquestionably of
eery
grey interest to the country. There can be no
doubt '..hat if railway communication were established
farl,c!oP--. the route which lie has indicated—that is to say,

,m the Mediterranean to the Euphrates—then a fur-
ther co►nmunication either by railway or by water, along

that river to the Persian Gulf, and so on to India, a
considerably inereased facility in the conduct of our com-
mercial and political intercourse with that empire must
be the result. (Hear.) We should also have the advan-
tage of any alternate route in competition with the line
of railway from Alexandria to Cairo, thence to Suez, and
down by the Red Sea, I am not, however, by any means
sure that the line in which the hon. gentleman seems to
take so great an interest is that which, if were about to
enter upon any project of the kind, the Government
would most desire to see adopted ; because, if railway
communication should be established—as I have no
doubt it will at no distanf period be—with Constanti-
nople, and if a line should be constructed from the other
side of the Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf, it is perfectly
plain a much shorter and better means of communi-
cation with India would be secured than that which
the hon. gentleman proposes, and which would involve
a sea passage either from Marseilles, Toulon, or Trieste,
to the further end of the Mediterranean. (Hear, hear.)
All these projects, however, are, in my opinion, schemes
in reference to which her Majesty's Government ought
to be deliberate spectators. I entirely concur with my
right hon. friend the member for the University of Ox-
ford in the sentiments to which he gave expression in
that portion of his speech in which he so well and so
ably pointed out the inexpediency of the Government of
this country meddling directly in enterprises such as that
to which our attention has this evening been drawn, and
which are to be carried into execution in a foreign State.
My right hon. friend dwelt very forcibly on the political
consequences which would be likely to result from a
direct connection with such schemes, and, upon the
grounds to which he has adverted, her Majesty's Minis-
ters would be indisposed to mix themselves up with pro-
jects of the nature of that which is now under discus-
sion. To pursue a different policy would indeed be to
take a course at variance with that which has in similar
cases bee* adopted. Applications were made, for in-
stance, to the English Government upon the part of our
West Indian colonies of Demerara and of our North
American provinces for pecuniary assistance, and with
those applications the Government dee,ned it to be their
duty to refuse to comply. The only case, I may observe,
in which direct pecuniary aid was afforded was that of a
great and important railway in Ireland, but in that in-
stance the Exchequer-Bill Commissioners merely ad-
vanced as A loan a certain amount to carry on the con-
struction of the necessary works, and security was ob-
tained by Act of Parliament for the repayment of that
sum by means of the rates of the counties through which
the railway passed. That the house will see is not an in-
stance at all applicable to the case in point ; and with
reference to the Euphrates Valley Railway I can only
assure my hon. friend who brought forward this ques-
tion, that, however glad we should be to see that project
completed, we cannot hold out the slightest encourage-
ment that we should be disposed, either directly
or indirectly, to advance any money for the
attainment of that end. With respect to the question of
the establishment of a telegraphic communication, I can
Only say that it is one which appears to me to stand in a
light somewhat different from that to which I have just
referred. A telegraphic communication is somewhat
similar to that postal communication—to speak in mo
dern jargon—which has been established with distant
countries beyond the seas. If a telegraphic line were
laid down by the Euphrates Valley or by the Red Sea to
India, her Majesty's Government would, I think, very
wisely and properly, pay for the use of that line. The
subject i.e one open to consideration, and I must say that
in my opinion a communication of that description would
be found to be of the utmost importance to the interests
of the country. I believe that the company now engaged
in establishing the telegraphic line down the Valley of
the Euphrates—a company distinct, lam informed, from
that which has been alluded to as concerned in the pro-
ject for a railway—will succeed in the attempt, and that
unless some unexpected difficulties arise, we may look
forward to the completion of the telegraphic line in
question within a definite period. The accomplishment
of that object would no doubt be productive of great
advantage, as it would place us in communication with
India by the construction of a telegraphic line to Kur-
rachee. Having said thus much in reference to the pro-
jects of a railway and a telegraphic line, I may be per-
mitted to advert to an entirely different topic, to which
my right hon. friend the member for the University of
Oxford has drawn our attention—l allude to the proceed-
ings which have lately taken place iu the Principalities.
My right hon. friend has got possession of a pamphlet, of
which a copy has been sent to me, but at which I had
not time to look; and upon the statements made in that
pamphlet, grounds his appeal to her Majesty's Govern-
ment to lay the papers connected with the recent transac-
tions in the Principalities upon the table of the house.
Now, it is my opinion that if all the pamphlets which
have been written by well-meaning Moldavians and Wel-
lachians within the last few years upon questions con-
nected with the Principalities could. be collected toge-
ther, they would occupy the greater portion if not the
entire of that table, and I cannot help thinking that
statements made in publications of that description can
scarcely with justice be held to furnish any conclusive
reasons upon which to found a claim for the production
of a diplomatic correspondence. There may be proper
demands upon other grounds ; but I do not think that it
fair to make upon the Government a demand for the pro-
duction of documents founded upon chance statements in
pamphlets. I apprehend that my right hon. friend can-
not have been iu the house a few days ago when, in an-
swer to the right hon. member for Buckinghamshire, I
explained the state of affairs with regard to the Moldavian
principalities, I will repeat the statement I then made.
The treaty of Paris was concluded about a year ago—in.
Aprillast year, and not 2 years ago, as the right hon. gen-
tleman stated. [lllr. Gladstono—l beg pardon for com-
, mitting such an error.] The treaty of Paris stipulated that
after the limitation of Bessarabia to form part of Moldavia
should have been completed, and after the territory so
transferred to Moldavia should have been actually hand-
ed over to Moldavia, tho Moldaviaa and Wallaobian
principalities should proceed to the election of two repre-
tative bodies to be called divans ; that these bodies should
take into consideration the wants and wishes of the pen.
ple in regard to the future internal organisation of the
principalities ; that during their deliberations there
should be in the provinces commissioners represen•
ting each of the contracting Powers ; that when the as-
semblies had considered all the matters submitted to
them, and when the commissioners had made their reports
upon what they bad observed, the determination of the
assemblies and the reports of the commissioners should
be transmitted to the Congress of Paris, which was to
be re-assembled for the purpose of considering the sub-
ject ; and that then the Congress—in concert with the
Sultan, who would be represented in it—should come
to an understanding with the States as to what should
be the future internal organisation of the two provinces.
There was—for reasons of which it is unnecessary
foe me to remind the House —great delay in the
regulatioa of the Bessarabian provinces. (Hear, hear.)
That delay occasioned delay with regard to other matters;
and it was not until sonic little time ago that the firman
or decree of the Porte, determining in what manner the
elections should take place, was settled in concert by the
the representatives of the six Powers and the represen-
tatives of the Porte at Cte -stantinople. That firman was
sent to the provinces ; but the provinces differ in some
respects with regard to their internal arrangements.
The firman was sent to Bucharest, in Wallachia, where
the commissioners were stationed, but it was found not
to be clear with respect to certain details of application.
Reference was made to Constantinople, and on the 30. h
of May the representatives of the Powers, in boncert with
the Minister of the Porte, gave answers to the questions
which arose upon these doubts, and the answers were sent
to Bucharest. The came interpretation of the doubtful
points was to be acted vpon both in Wallachia and Mol-
davia in as far as the internal differences of the two prin
cipalitios mightadmit. There werestill misunderstandings
The Raimailtan of Moldavia did not think that the
doubts which had been started with regard to Wallachia,
applied to Moldavia. The elections took place, and then
representations were made that from the manner in
which the elections had been conducted certain classes
who were properly entitled to vote bad been excluded
from voting. These representations led to discussions
at C. nstantinople. The representatives of four Powers
entertained one opinion as to the amount of it regularity ;
the representatives of England, Austria, and the Porte
took a different view. The representatives of the four
Powers called upon the Porte to annul the elections.
The Porte declined to do so, not deeming it a matter
which the representatives of the four Powers were com-
petent to decide ; but considering that as the question
had been discussed by the six Powers, such an applica-
tion should proceed from the representatives of all those
Powers. Differences arose ; and, as I stated before,
the late visit of the Emperor of the French at Osborne,
bringing the two Governments into personal contact
and direct explanation, enabled us to come to an agree-
ment with the French Government that we would unite
with France—and we trusted Austria would do so also
—to remove all suspicion of irregularity with regard to
the elections, and that we would represent to the Sultan
that it was for his own interest that there should be
no imputation whatever as to the constitution of the
body whose wishes were to be taken into consideration
at the Congress of Paris. That matter, therefore, I now
consider as settled, especially as we have reason to know
that the Gevernment cf Austria is wil'ing to take the
same course which we have adopted. (Cheers.) My
right bon. friend has amused the house by reading pas.
sages describing the different irregularities which took
place at the elections. Those statements may or
may not be true ; and it is very well for us, who
have determined—especially in the case of the last general
election—to havo oar elections carried on in a manner
tprraeot
rt yd
n freeary
from
that imputation—(a
countries
tion of representative bodies with equal regularity ; but
when we recollect that these Moldavians and Walla-
oation—
°Wang are totally unused to such proceedings,—that the
authorities wish to attain one result, while other parties
desire another,—that the nolitieal questions at i-sue are
debated with the utmost vehemence by opposite factions,
—and that the people are not accustomed to that
my right hon. friend
obedience to the law with which we are familiar,—it
cannot be surprising that such irregularities as are de-
should tailed in
havethe
occurred.pam pnle t quotedca t; by
only
assure
my
right hon.
friend that if he was acqueiuted with what takes place
in the kingdom of Greece—in which a system of repre-
sentative Government has been established for a non-
riilerr.ble period—he would find occurrences far exceed-
ing, not only in gravity but in absurdity, the cases he
has referred to as occurring in the principalities.
The
result is, however, that there is now no difference of
opinion among the six Powers as to the propriety of
application of the firman of
annulling the elections, and having the lists upon which
the elections are made revised in socha manner as to in-
sure the strict and proper
the Porte. My right hon. friend has intoduced the
much-debated question of the projected canal at Suez.
I have no doubt that a great deal of that persuasive
eloquence which
is now endeavouring in all our
has been brought
was asked anise
to bear upon my right lion. frieui .
large commercial cities to enlist people in favour
of the scheme he recommends