except on the ground of expediency.  Had I, on these occasions, adopted the doctrines of the absorbing school, I might have become one of the most popular and influential men in India; but I should, at the same time, have rendered our rule and character odious to the people of India, and so far have injured our permanent interest in the country.  I mention all this merely to show that my opposition to the doctrines of this school is not new, nor in theory only, but of long standing and practice, as far as my influence has extended.  I deem them to be dangerous to our rule in India, and prejudicial to the best interests of the country.  The people see that these annexations and confiscations go on, and that rewards and honorary distinctions are given for them, and for the victories which lead to them, and for little else; and they are too apt to infer that they are systematic, and encouraged, and prescribed from home.  The native States I consider to be breakwaters, and when they are all swept away, we shall be left to the mercy of our native army, which may not always be sufficiently under our control.  Such a feeling as that which pervaded Bundelcund and Gwalior in 1842 and 1843, must, sooner or later, pervade all India, if these doctrines are carried out to their full extent; and our rule could not, probably, exist under it.  With regard to Oude, I can only say that the King pursues the same course, and every day shows that he is unfit to reign.  He has not the slightest regard for the duties or responsibilities of his high position; and the people, and even the members of his own family, feel humiliated at his misconduct, and grow weary of his reign.  The greater part of these members have not received their stipends for from two to three years, and they despair of ever receiving them as long as he reigns.  He is neither tyrannical nor cruel, but altogether incapable of devoting any of his time or attention to business of any kind, but spends the whole of his time with women, eunuchs, fiddlers, and other parasites.  Should he be set aside, as he deserves to be, three courses are open:  1.  To appoint a regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, who is now about eleven years of age, to govern with the advice of the Resident; 2.  To manage the country by European agency during the regency, or in perpetuity, leaving the surplus revenue to the royal family; 3.  To confiscate and annex the country, and pension the royal family.  The first plan was prescribed by Lord Hardinge, in case of accident to the King; the second is what was done at Nagpore, with so much advantage, by Sir Richard Jenkins in 1817; the third is what the absorbing school would advocate, but I should most deprecate.  It would be most profitable for us, in a pecuniary point of view, but most injurious, I think, in a political one.  It would tend to accelerate the crisis which the doctrines of that school must, sooner or later, bring upon us.  Which course the Governor-General may prefer I know not.