LORD STANLEYasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether the inquiry now being carried on into the respective rights of the Talookdars and Cultivators of Oude is in pursuance of instructions issued by him; and, whether he will lay upon the table any Correspondence that may have passed on the subject; and, also, whether he could give any explanation of the nature and purport of that inquiry?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODI have no difficulty in answering the Question of my noble Friend; and, as considerable misapprehension exists upon this subject, it may be desirable that I should state very briefly the circumstances under which this inquiry has been instituted. It has, I know, been represented that Sir John Lawrence has materially reversed the policy of Lord Canning with regard to the settlement in Oude, and has been guilty of 139 a breach of faith with the Talookdars. I hope that the House will feel sure that Sir John Lawrence is incapable of doing anything of that kind. The great feature of Lord Canning's policy with regard to the settlement of Oude, was to restore the Talookdars to the position of independent native landowners and gentlemen, and that the settlement with the Government should be made direct with them, in lieu of the system which had prevailed in the North West Provinces of a settlement with the under proprietors. That arrangement remains perfect and altogether untouched; but there is a question as to the existence of certain rights of cultivators in Oude. The Chief Commissioner believes that such rights did not exist; the Judicial Commissioner believes that they did. The Chief Commissioner admits frankly that if they did exist, they are preserved under the sunnuds or grants of Lord Canning to the Talookdars in which a condition was inserted that all persons holding under the Talookdars should be secured in the possession of all the subordinate rights they formerly enjoyed; and the object of the inquiry ordered by Sir John Lawrence and referred to in the Question is simply to ascertain whether these rights did or did not exist. If the result should be that they did not exist, there is an end of the question. If the result should be that they did exist, then it will be the duty of the Government, under the stipulations of Lord Canning's grant to the Talookdars, to take care that they are secured. It was not in consequence of any instructions from home that the inquiry was ordered. I shall not have the slightest objection to lay on the table all the papers that we have upon the subject. I am sorry to say that some documents which we ought to have received have not been transmitted to us, and therefore the information which I can give to the House is, like what I possess myself, very imperfect.