s between the two
States, or out of our position as the paramount power in India. These
relations, under the Treaty of 1837, give our Government the _right_
to take upon itself the administration, under present circumstances;
and, indeed, imposes, upon our Government the _duty_ of taking it:
but, as I have already stated, neither these relations nor our
position, as the paramount power, gives us any right to _annex_ or to
_confiscate_ the territory of Oude. We may have a right to take
territory from the Nizam of Hyderabad in payment for the money he
owes us; but Oude owes us no money, and we have no right to take
territory from her. We have only the right to interpose to secure for
the suffering people that better Government which their Sovereign
pledged himself to secure for them, but has failed to secure.

The Burmese war still prevents the Governor-General from devoting his
attention to Oude and Hyderabad. In the last war we did not march our
armies to the capital because we were not prepared to supply a new
Government for the one which we should thereby destroy; and
insurrection and civil war must have followed. Our conduct in that
was wise and benevolent. When we moved our armies to Rangoon this
time, we upset one Government without providing the people with
another. The Governor-General could not provide for the Civil
Government, because he could not know that the Government of Ava
would force us to keep possession of any portion of its dominions;
and taking upon ourselves the civil administration would compromise
the people, should he have to give them up again to their old rulers.
The consequence has been great suffering to a people who hailed us as
deliverers. The folly of supposing that any country can be taken by
steamers on their rivers alone has now become sufficiently manifest.
The Governor-General has however, adopted the best possible measures
for securing ultimate good government to Pegu. It would have been
more easily effected had they been taken earlier, but this
circumstance prevented.

There is a school in India, happily not yet much patronised by the
Home Government nor by the Governor-General, but always struggling
with more or less success for ascendancy. It is characterised by
impatience at the existence of any native State, and its strong and
often insane advocacy of their absorption--by honest means, if
possible--but still, their absorption. There is no pretext, however
weak, that is not su