had dwindled nearly to the level of the ground, and, in many places, had wholly disappeared.
From Cawnpur, in October, the Governor-General marched into Oudh, visited the Alambágh — the outpost of Lucknow, where, after the withdrawal of the British garrison, Outram had so gallantly kept guard, and where Havelock's honoured ashes lay — and entering Lucknow in state, cheered the hearts of the assembled Chieftains by proclaiming the inauguration of a policy, under which the privileges and position of great landowners would be more sympathetically recognised than under the late régime. The announcement was received with enthusiasm.
The policy which it embodied has been elsewhere discussed. Not to touch further on a still unexhausted controversy, it may suffice for the present purpose to say that Lord Canning's dealings with the Oudh Tálukdárs, whatever may have been their ultimate consequences to the occupiers of the soil, had, at any rate, the effect — at the moment supremely important — of conciliating the upper classes and of restoring tranquillity to a disordered community with unexpected speed and completeness. There may have been in Lord Canning's appreciative audience many whose rights had been unfairly disregarded, and some who were capable of using their newly-conceded privileges with a wise and merciful consideration of other and subordinate interests in the soil. But experience has shown that the precautions designed by Lord Canning for the protection of those
