INDIA.
During the whole of the year 1855, General Outram, as the British
political agent at Lucknow, was engaged in disputes with the King
of Oude. According to instructions from Lord Dalhousie, the
governor-general, demands were made which the king and his people
resisted. General Outram acted with all the humanity and courtesy which
his stern instructions allowed. Lord Dalhousie was determined to annex
the rich and fertile kingdom. The British cabinet, acting through the
board of control, encouraged him. The author of these pages knows that
the directors of the East India Company generally disapproved of the
annexation, and some of them foresaw the consequences. The act of
parliament of 1853, which came into operation in 1854, left the company
so little power, that there was no use in its intelligent members
opposing the caprice and aggrandizement of the board of control. At all
events, the directors offered no open opposition, and Lord Dalhousie
was left to his own unfettered judgment to carry out his scheme. At the
close of 1855, General Outram was ordered to assemble a large military
force at Cawnpore, and to enter into negotiations with the Oude
government, "for the purposes mentioned in the despatch of the
honourable court." On the 30th of January, 1856, General Outram summoned
the prime-minister of Oude to the residency at Lucknow, to inform him
of the decision of the governorgeneral. On the 1st of February the king
addressed "the Resident," protesting in mild but dignified language
against the subversion of his rightful authority.
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