Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/180

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172
DALHOUSIE'S WORK IN INDIA

the situation. 'For tolerating so long this total disregard of the obligations of solemn treaty, and for all the ills and human suffering which have sprung therefrom, the British Government is heavily responsible. It cannot, indeed, be charged with indifference to the evils whose existence it perceived, or with neglect of all exertions to palliate or remove them. For, from the date of the treaty' [of 1801] 'to the present day, the records of Government exhibit one unbroken series of acts of counsel, of complaint, and of condemnation, on the part of the Government of India, and its representatives at Lucknow. By official notes, in friendly letters, through the mouth of the Resident, and at formal personal interviews, the Governor-General has urged, from time to time, upon the notice of the Ruler of Oudh, the wretched internal condition of his kingdom; and throughout all that period, at frequent intervals, words of indignant censure have alternated with earnest remonstrances, with warning, and with threats.

'But the Government of India has never taken the one measure which alone could be effectual, by withdrawing its countenance from the Sovereign of Oudh, and its troops from his dominions. It is by these aids alone that the Sovereigns of Oudh have been enabled for more than half-a-century to persist with impunity in their course of oppression and misrule. Their eyes have never seen