policy of the Proclamation was to be justified. Making all allowance for the special circumstances of the Oudh landowners, the fact remained that they had shown themselves strenuous and determined rebels. Confiscation of their lands was declared as the general penalty; the means of escaping were shown to be within reach of all without loss of honour. 'Nothing more is required of them than that they should promptly tender their adhesion and help to maintain peace and order.' To concede more than this would have been to treat rebels 'not only as honourable rebels, but as enemies who had won the day;' would have led the people of Oudh to the conclusion that rebellion against the British Government could not be a losing game, and, 'though perhaps productive of an immediate return to order, would not have placed the future peace of the Province on a secure foundation.'
The argument that the rebellion of the Tálukdárs had been provoked by the unjust manner in which the Government had dealt with their estates, was met by the fact that among the most inveterate of our opponents were several Tálukdárs, who had, confessedly, benefitted by the administrative changes introduced in the land system since the annexation of the Province. Nor, on the whole case, was any valid reason shown for departing from the rule that the penalty of confiscation had been incurred, and that relaxation of that sentence could be obtained only by submission.
