“That, in the more recent treaty of 1837, it is stated that the solemn and paramount obligation provided by treaty for the prosperity of his Majesty’s subjects, and the security of the lives and property of the inhabitants, has been notoriously neglected by several successive rulers in Oude, thereby exposing the British Government to the reproach of having imperfectly fulfilled its obligations towards the Oude people; that his Lordship alludes to the treaty of 1837, as confirming the original treaty of 1801, and not only giving the British Government the right to interfere, but declaring it to be the intention of the Government to interfere, if necessary, for the purpose of securing good government in Oude; that the King can, therefore, have no doubt that the Governor-General is not only justified, but bound by his duty, to take care that the stipulations provided by treaty shall be fairly and substantially carried into effect; that if the Governor-General permits the continuation of any flagrant system of mismanagement which by treaty he is empowered to correct, he becomes the participator in abuses which it is his duty to redress; and in this case no ruler of Oude can expect the Governor-General to incur a responsibility so repugnant to the principles of the British Government, and so odious to the feelings of the British people.

“That, in the discussion of this important subject, advice and remonstrance have been frequently tried, and have failed; that the Governor-General hopes that the King will exercise a sounder judgment than those who have preceded him, and that he will not be compelled to exchange friendly advice for imperative and absolute interference; that when the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, had a conference with the former King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder, on this subject, on the 20th of January, 1831, he deemed it right frankly to inform him that if the warning which he then gave was disregarded by his Majesty, it was his intention to submit to the home authorities his advice that the British Government should assume the direct management of the Oude dominions; that the Honourable the Court of Directors coincided in his Lordship’s views and, in order that no doubt may remain on the King’s mind as to the sentiments of the home authorities on this point, he, Lord Hardinge, here inserts an extract from the despatch of that Court, for his information; that it is as follows:—­ ’We have, after the most serious consideration, come to the determination of granting to you the discretionary power which you have requested, from us for placing the Oude territories under the direct management of officers of the British Government; and you are hereby empowered, if no real and satisfactory improvement shall have taken place in the administration of that country, and if your Government shall still adhere to the opinion expressed in the minute of the Governor-General, to carry the proposed measure into effect, at such period and in such manner as shall appear to you most